Halo: Strike Evolved
by Wernher von Braun
Summary: The destruction of Gallia Hive and Venezia Hive gave humanity the long-waited chance to strike back. With Neuroi hot on their tail, it is believed that the war is about to be over. But, they will find out about the cold, hard truth; that Neuroi is the only being that stood between humanity and the unforgiving nature of galaxy.
1. Forerunner's Legacy

**Forerunner's Legacy**

 **October 20, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)**

 **Unknown Star System…**

Hundreds of miles away from the outermost atmosphere of Earth, there's nothing but emptiness. That emptiness doesn't stay long however as suddenly, several ships appear after exiting the slipspace.

The fleet is composed of ships from both the United Nations Space Command and the Swords of Sanghelios. From the UNSC, there are UNSC _Infinity_ of _Infinity_ -class warship, UNSC _Toulon_ and UNSC _Rome_ of _Paris_ -class heavy frigates, UNSC _New Hope_ and UNSC _State Your Status_ of _Charon_ -class light frigates, and UNSC _Song of the West_ of _Autumn_ -class heavy cruiser. From the Swords of Sanghelios, there are _Shadow of Intent_ of CAS-class assault carrier, _Shattered Belief_ and _Light of Truth_ of CCS-class battlecruisers, and _Long Struggle_ , _Spirit of Will_ , and _Beyond Divine_ of _CPV_ -class destroyers.

Their destination is Earth. However, it is not the Earth that's the homeworld of UNSC. They are approaching Earth for one reason.

To investigate the possibility of Forerunner's technology.

* * *

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

After having some good sleep and a cup of coffee, Captain Thomas J. Lasky enters the bridge to see that all personnel are doing their respective tasks. He then turn his attention to something, or perhaps someone else.

"Roland, status report!"

As soon as Lasky said that, a yellow avatar of _Infinity_ 's AI Roland appears on a table. He appears to be thinking about something before talking.

"We have exited the slipspace, sir. In approximately three minutes, we will have visual on the location." Said Roland.

"That's good to hear. By the way, you seems to have something in your mind." Said Lasky.

"Well, when we enter the system, I found out that there are similarities with the Sol system. I decided to check the coordinates. The result say that we're anywhere except the Sol system."

"May be just a coincidence. This is a vast space after all."

For almost three minutes, the combined fleet is slowly but steady approaching the location. When the time is almost run out, almost everyone on the bridge can see that the location is a planet with blue as its dominant color. From experience, that means the planet is majority water. They then see a small rocky ball – a satellite – orbiting the planet. When the three minutes are over, everyone who can see the planet are surprised; the planet is none other than Earth.

"Sir, it's the Earth!" Exclaimed one of the staff.

"Roland?" Said Lasky, demanding an explanation.

"No, sir. This is not our Earth. I told you I had checked the coordinates, and we're nowhere near the Sol." Replied Roland.

"Then, why we're seeing Earth?"

"Like what you said earlier; this is a vast space after all, sir."

Suddenly, Roland receives a transmission from _Shadow of Intent_.

"Sir, receiving transmission from _Shadow of Intent_. Order, sir?" Asked Roland.

"Patch me through." Ordered Lasky.

"In a minute."

After waiting for a minute, the transmission has been properly established between _Infinity_ and _Shadow of Intent_. The person who sent the transmission is the lead representative of the Swords of Sanghelios, Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum.

"Shipmaster." Said Lasky.

"Captain." Replied Rtas.

"Is there anything you want to say?"

"I am here to tell you that this planet is not your Earth."

"Thanks…for the information."

"The proofs are the coordinates of the planet and the conditions of continents called Africa and America."

"What? I mean, what are their conditions?"

"I believe it is better for you to see it yourself."

Lasky diverts his attention to the planet in front of him. It's currently rotating from west to east, just like the Earth. The combined fleet is also moving from west to east from the planet's point of view. When he sees Africa, Lasky realizes that the continent is normal, no single hint about the glassing done by Rtas during the Battle of Earth to prevent the spread of the Flood. When he finally see America, especially the northern part though…

"You've got to be kidding me." Commented Lasky when he sees the North America.

"It looks as if the planet knew about the history of US of A and decided to mold North America into a star-shaped landmass." Stated Roland with an amused tone.

"Well, I believe that's more than enough proof that this is not our Earth." Said one of the staff.

"Captain." Lasky turns his attention back to Rtas. "None of our ships are equipped with surveillance device. If this planet is similar to Earth, then we can expect some advanced life-forms."

"Good idea. Can we do that, Roland?" Said Lasky.

"Of course, sir. Sending surveillance probe…now!"

From the bridge, Lasky can see the probe approaching the planet. He then turn his attention back to Rtas.

"This is going to take a while. I suggest that both of us prepare for an expedition party when the probe returned." Suggested Lasky.

"That suggestion is a good one, Captain. Shipmaster out."

With that, the transmission is cut. Lasky, along with the UNSC staffs, are now waiting for the probe.

* * *

At the training facility, two SPARTAN-IVs are shooting some targets. After few seconds shooting, one of them – with big slit-like visor – presses a button so the targets approach them. When they're close enough, it's revealed that the one who pressed the button has a better result than the other SPARTAN.

"Looks like you're still below me, Locke." Said the SPARTAN.

"I am just not feeling well." Excused the SPARTAN with visor not unlike Master Chief, Gabriel Locke.

"Yeah, yeah, not feeling well. How many times I have heard of that?"

"Shut up, Adams. At least I don't have a record of friendly fire."

"How many times I told you that was an accident?! It's not my fault I thought that he was infected!" Retorted the other SPARTAN, Douglas Adams.

"Hey, what's going on in here?!"

Both SPARTANs turn to see the source to see a SPARTAN-IV with a rectangular-like visor. The lower part of the visor moves upward, creating a curves. Locke and Adams also realize that the marines are also looking at them.

"Sorry, sir. Just some…disagreement." Stated Locke as both SPARTANs stand still.

"Well, that's good because we're going on an expedition."

"Sir?" Said Adams.

"There's a high possibility that the planet that's our destination can support advanced life-form like humans or elites. With that kind of possibility, our task is to perform small expedition; find out as many thing as we can about the life-form and return to the fleet. For now, we're forbidden from making contact without Captain Lasky approval."

"Why is that, Abbas?" Asked Locke.

"Well, we don't know whether we're going to be greeted with hostility or not. So until we know enough about them, we're not going to make a contact with the local." Replied Hasan Abbas.

"Understood, sir."

"Good. Now I want both of you to prepare our equipment while I'll try to find Koyuki and Smith. Finding them will be hard, that's one thing I know. So when we return, I want everything ready. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Replied Locke and Adams.

"Then what both of you waiting? Do it now!"

* * *

Back on the bridge, Lasky is checking through the data about _Infinity_ 's current condition when Roland appears. Lasky saves the data before talking to the AI.

"Has the probe returned?" Asked Lasky.

"No, sir. But, it managed to send some data before it was destroyed." Replied Roland.

Lasky looks surprised when he heard that. The probe was designed to be as inconspicuous as possible. Though he do admit that a flying device might not be so inconspicuous if someone see it with clear visual.

"Destroyed? By what?"

"Don't know, sir. There's no clue on what caused the destruction."

"I see. So what kind of data it managed to send?"

"Quite a lot actually. For one, the similarity of the planet with Earth is 95.72% while its ability to support life is 92.38% if compared to Earth."

The result makes Lasky curious. If the planet can support life, then if compared to Earth, it should be somewhere near 99.5%. Sure, the number can be lower than that, but most don't reach 92. And those that reach the number have a good reason.

"Also, it managed to catch a signal and transmitted it back to _Infinity_. Sir…it has a lot of similarity with the signal of radio transmission during World War II."

Roland's words surprised almost everyone on the bridge. Many of them, who were only listening a little bit, now want to hear the full detail.

"So we can assume that the most advanced life form is a humanoid race and their technology is somewhere at 1940s level." Said Lasky.

"That's not all, sir. Take a look at the photo that the probe acquired before its destruction."

Besides Roland appears a picture. The background is blue so it's safe to assume that the photo is taken above a sea. That's not the most interesting part of course. The most interesting part is two planes in the photo. Both of them are propeller planes and have an iron cross at the wings.

"World War II…iron cross…great, one of the hostile we might meet is Nazi." Said Lasky with a sigh.

World War II is no longer as famous as it was few centuries ago. But one thing that managed to still reach the ears of the people of 26th century is, to put it simply, Nazi are bad guys. Actually, calling them bad guys is like calling the Covenant a group of nice aliens.

"That's a possibility. There's a chance that they're just using the same symbol." Replied Roland.

"That's another possibility. Any other important information?"

"No, sir. The rest are just a basic data."

"I see. Roland, send the data – including the basic ones – to the _Shadow of Intent_!"

"Affirmative, Captain."

With that, Roland disappears.

* * *

At the deployment bay, Fireteam Vanguard – consisted of five SPARTAN-IVs – is currently doing a final checkup. Locke is armed with MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System, Adams with M45D Tactical Shotgun, Anne Koyuki with Sniper Rifle System 99-Series 5 Anti-Materiel, and Christine Smith is armed with M395 Designated Marksman Rifle.

Standing in front of them is their commanding officer, Abbas. He's armed with MA5D ICWS, like Locke. He's walking from right to left as he checked each of his teammates.

"Alright, listen up, Vanguard. Our objective is to infiltrate the planet and acquire as many information as we can about the humanoid race that live there. This is a stealth mission, so I don't want anything that can revealed us to happen!" Stated Abbas. Locke then raises his hand.

"Speak, Locke."

"Sir, what kind of technology that the local have?"

"Intel said that they only have World War II era. This doesn't mean we can underestimated them. Weapons from that war, while obviously weaker than ours, still can kill even a SPARTAN if used correctly. Fortunately, there isn't any record of such event."

This time, it's Smith who raises her hand.

"Go ahead, Smith."

"How are we going to proceed, sir?"

"I am just about to get to that point. First, we will be dropped to a forest that's technically speaking is the Ardennes. Inside the forest, we will regroup with four members of the Swords of Sanghelios. From there, we will go to the nearest settlement or military base."

"Sound simple." Commented Koyuki.

"It sounds simpler than actually. The only thing we know is that the local are using WWII technology, live in a crude copy of Earth, and are possibly humanoid. And even the last one have some doubt. Anymore question?" Asked Abbas.

None of Fireteam Vanguard answer that question. All of them remain silence.

"I'll take that as a yes. Let's go, SPARTAN!"

* * *

 **And this is complete.**

 **Sorry if something feels off. This is my first time writing a Halo fic.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	2. Mistakes Are Made

**Mistakes Are Made**

 **August 20, 1945 (Local Calender)**

 **Florence, Duchy of Romagna**

It has been at least more than a month since the 501st Joint Fighter Wing "Strike Witches" destroyed the Venezia Hive, thus pretty much liberating the entire Apennine Peninsula. With it, more land of Europe is liberated from the Neuroi.

Within that month, waves of good news came at high speed. The combined forces of Liberion, Britannia, and Karlsland managed to push the Neuroi to the Libya-Egypt border. While Gallia still can't be considered safe, the country's situation had become better. The situation on the Eastern Front is better than before; the Neuroi is no longer on offensive, thus giving a chance to the Allied forces to counterattack.

Until further notification, the 501st is currently taking a well-needed rest.

At the historic center of the city, Miyafuji Yoshika is touring with Lynette Bishop and Francesca Lucchini. Their destination is the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. It's one of the most famous heritage site in Romagna.

"Wow, it looks so cool and amazing!" Stated Yoshika as she sees the cathedral.

"Of course! If there's one thing Romagna is definitely famous about, it's our historical value." Replied Francesca.

"According to a book I read, under the dome of the cathedral, there's a painting called _The Last Judgement_." Said Lynette.

"Really? Is the painting made during the Renaissance?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then we should see it. I heard from the locals that those kind of paintings are one of the best in Europe."

"I don't think we can. You see those people there?" Said Francesca as she points at said people. "With the recent defeat of Neuroi Hive at the northern peninsula, tourism once again blooming, albeit not too much."

"Uuh, that's a shame." Commented Yoshika.

"Don't worry, Yoshika. Maybe some other time." Assured Francesca. "Speaking of which, how is Major's condition?"

"According from what I heard, the doctor still doesn't allow her to serve as anything and ordered her to rest." Said Yoshika.

"Ordering Sakamoto? Good luck." Commented Lynette.

"I don't think it will be that hard. Rumors said that the doctor assigned to take care of Sakamoto is a kind of doctor that will do anything – even dirty business – to make sure his patient becomes healthy. Only rumors, but that should say something."

"Anyway, is Major still going to be a part of 501st? She lost most of her magic after all." Asked Francesca.

"From what I heard, she is. But not as combatant." Answered Lynette.

The three of them let out a sigh. While they glad that Mio is fine after the entire ordeal destroying Venezia Hive, they also feel sad that one of the best witches of Fuso is no longer capable of fighting on equal or higher ground against the Neuroi. They also know that it's one of few things that scared Mio; being unable to help her subordinates/friends.

"Well, that's not good. We're here to take a rest, not lamenting the fate of our Major." Said Francesca, trying to lighten up the mood.

"I agree. I suggest we also but some souvenirs for our friends." Suggested Lynette.

"That's a great idea, Lynette. Let's go!" Said Yoshika as she grabs both Francesca and Lynette's hand.

* * *

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

While the SPARTANs are preparing for their expedition, that doesn't mean the marines and ODSTs do nothing. In fact, Lasky also ordered them to be ready, just in case something happen.

In a training facility, a group of marines are creating rank-and-file. In front of them, an African descent marine is walking around while keeping his eyes at them. He's Sergeant Major Jonathan Chester Arnold, who tend to be considered as "Sergeant Major Avery Johnson II". Make senses since he's African and also love to smoke a cigar although a different brand. Arnold being one of Johnson's personal student and thus has a somewhat similar attitude probably didn't help.

"Alright, listen up, marines! As you all know, we have arrived at the planet that's the location of one of those ancient alien ruins. Five SPARTANs will be dropped into the planet. This mission is stealth but in case things go south, we come in!" Said Arnold.

A marine raises his hand and asked, "Sir, what kind of opposition we should expect?"

"Good question, marine. Higher-ups have determined that this planet's locals have the technology to produced radio and propeller plane."

Murmurs start to come from the marines. That's one of few thing they didn't expect. Most of the times, they expected a primitive alien or one as advanced as the Covenant. Not that they want the latter part to happen again.

"More specifically, World War II era technology."

The murmurs now become louder.

"Silence, marines!"

The murmurs immediately stop as the marines once again pay attention to Arnold.

"I am going to explain on what-to-do when we're deployed. Because we will be deployed only when things go south for the SPARTANs, that means a firefight is nothing but assured. Our main objective is to extract the SPARTANs alongside our alien allies. Don't hesitate to shoot-to-kill! Higher-ups believed that the locals will be similar to humans. That's not an excuse to be a pussy!" Stated Arnold.

Another marine raises her hand, "Sir, do we have to worry about the locals' weaponry?"

"You must, because their weapons still can kill you. But most of the time, that's a waste of time. When we extract the SPARTANs, we will be accompanied with at the very least two Pelicans. The only thing strong enough to damage it is the infamous Flak 88. And I doubt the Allies nor the Axis can accomplished something like knocking down a Pelican without sustaining _very_ severe casualties. The chance for Hell to freeze is higher than that. And if that's not enough, one of the alien's destroyer is more than willing to give us some fire support." Answered Arnold with a grin.

His grin however vanished as his face becomes more serious.

"I am not going to sugar-coated it. While this planet might remind you of WWII, not that I care much about it, this is not Earth. As such, don't anticipate anything. Treat it like an alien planet that has inhabitant that looks similar to human. Be prepared for everything. Crystal?"

"Clear!" Shouted the marines.

"Just remember, we are UNSC Marine Corps, and nothing will stop us. Are we clear?"

"Hoo-ah!"

"I said 'are we clear'?"

"HOO-AH!"

"Good, marines. Now get your equipment and be ready to be called anytime!"

With Arnold's words, the marines disperse and start jogging towards the armory.

* * *

 **Night Time (Local)**

 **Gallian Airspace**

Flying at the sky, night witch Jennifer J. DeBlanc of the B-Unit of the 506th Joint Fighter Wing "Noble Witches" is patrolling to make sure that no Neuroi use night as an opportunity to strike the Allied forces when they're vulnerable.

During the early days of her role as night witch, it felt really lonely. She very rarely patrol with other night witch and thus spent most of her time alone. Of course, it changed when she spotted a Neuroi or two. Fortunately, the newly-developed "Night Witch radio community" managed to solve the problem.

Well, somewhat. It's kind of useless if you're trying to talk with someone who doesn't like talking.

"This is Squadron Leader Sayn-Wittgenstein reporting. No sign of Neuroi."

What she heard makes Jennifer laughs a little.

"You know, Heinrike, if you really want to talk in the radio community, you should just say so." Said Jennifer.

"It's…well…I guess you're right. Still, first thing first, how's the situation at your end?"

Jennifer looks at her "radar" for a moment before replying.

"Nope. No Neuroi detected. So far, it's a quite night."

"Good." Silence falls for few seconds before Heinrike talks again. "You know, thing seems to become relaxed. Neuroi's attacks are now less often to happen."

"Yeah. Remembering they lost two hives in span of a year, I guess it's not that strange they're now trying to regroup." Replied Jennifer.

"That make sense. Speaking of which, have you heard the most recent rumor?"

"Rumor? You mean the rumor about the retaking of Europe all the way to Karlsland?"

"Yeah, I really hope it's a rumor that will become a truth."

"You really miss your home, huh?"

"Missing my home is an understatement. I am sure every other Karlslander feel the same thing."

"I can't imagine that. I can, technically speaking, go back home anytime I want and yet I still miss it."

Jennifer and Heinrike continue their conversation when the former realizes something. When she looks at the sky, she sees falling stars.

"Look, look, Heinrike! Falling stars!" Shouted Jennifer.

"There's no need to yell for something like a falling star!" Replied Heinrike harshly.

"What, you don't like falling star?"

"It's less about not liking it and more because you're too loud." Heinrike then becomes silence and seems to be thinking about something. "Wait a minute. Speaking of falling star, those are…"

Before Heinrike can finish her sentence, someone interrupted it with a reminder.

"While I have no problem with you girls talking to each other, you have a job to do."

"Same with me, I encouraged it in fact. That's not an excuse to neglect your job however."

Both Jennifer and Heinrike become tense when they heard the voices of Rosalie de Hemricourt de Grunne and Geena Preddy respectively.

"Sorry about that, Commander/Pardon me, Major." Said Jennifer and Heinrike at the same time.

"We'll let this slide. Next time though, no excuse." Stated Rosalie.

Hearing that, both night witches immediately return to their own patrol.

Unbeknown to them, if they look at the "falling stars" longer, they will notice that there's something strange about them.

* * *

Dropping towards the ground and the "falling stars" that the night witches saw are none other than five Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicles – or Egg as they're informally known – and a Type-54 Mass Deployment Carapace. Each Eggs consist of one SPARTAN of Fireteam Vanguard while the Type-54 MDC is filled with the Sword of Sanghelios' expeditionary team.

As the Eggs reach the altitude of 3,000 feet, the upper exterior panels separate acting as a drag-type chute, slowing their descent some and helping to keep the pods on course by keeping them upright. At about 50 meters, the pods' computer controlled braking rockets engage, slowing the pods further. Thanks to these, the Eggs reach the ground safely.

On the other hand, the Type-54 MDC only need to use a low-range gravity dampening pulse to reach the ground safely.

From one of the Eggs, Abbas emerges after the door was blasted open. He relaxes his body for few moments before taking his equipment from the pod. When he looks at this surrounding, he can see that they landed near the Ardennes and his teammates are fine and so do the aliens.

When he looks at the Sword of Sangehelios' team, he sees one Special Operations Officer Elite. He doesn't seems to be armed, but look can be deceiving. The other is a Special Operations Elite who is armed with Type-57 Covenant Carbine and a pair of Special Operations Grunts who are armed with Type-54D Directed Energy Pistol. What stand the most for Abbas is the presence of a Jackal. He's armed with Type-27 Special Application Sniper Rifle.

"A Jackal? Isn't he a little too bloodthirsty to be a part of SpecOps?" Asked Abbas.

Surprisingly, it's the Jackal who answered that question. Abbas never heard a Jackal speaking in English, so this kind of surprised him.

"Do not compare me with my kin, human. I have trained myself so that my thirst can't compromised the mission." Retorted the Jackal.

Abbas cringes a little when he heard the Jackal speaking. The Jackal's sounds quite…harsh to put it easy. It makes hearing him speaking a little jarring.

"He's right, human. This Ruutian is less bloodthirsty than other Kig-Yars." Defended a Grunt.

"Though he does still have some thirst. So keeping an eye on him is advisable." Stated another Grunt.

"Both of you are not helping!" Exclaimed the Jackal.

"Enough!" Shouted the Special Operations Officer, silencing all of them. "Apologize for my subordinates…misconducts. I assured you that it won't happen again."

"It's fine. I have no problem with it." Replied Abbas. "My name is Hasan Abbas. You can identify me as Abbas."

"Very well, Abbas. I am Gal 'Jarhed. The Sangheili beside me is Vata 'Lodam. The Unggoys are Yadab and Dayab. And the Kig-Yar is Tang."

"Thank you for the introduction." As Gal introduced his subordinates, the rest of Fireteam Vanguard regroup at Abbas. "Now it's my turn. This is Gabriel Locke. The one with shotgun is Douglas Adams. The sniper here is Anne Koyuki. And finally, my second-in-command Christine Smith."

"It is an honor to work with you." Said Gal.

"The honor is mine." Replied Abbas. "Now, what do you think about starting our mission?"

"I fully agree with that decision."

With that, both Fireteam Vanguard and 'Jarhed's team walk to the forest. When they already few meters away, Abbas press some buttons at his wrist.

"What are you doing, Abbas?" Asked Douglas.

"Just you wait and see…or rather hear." Replied Abbas.

Few seconds later, they hear the sound of multiple explosions. Both team turn around and aim their weapons at the source except Abbas and Gal.

"I believe you just destroyed your pods." Said Gal.

"I am." Said Abbas.

"Well, at least at this point our pod is already on its way back to the fleet." Commented Vata as he and others calm down.

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

Inside a dark room, three figures from hologram appear. The first one took an appearance of a young man in lab suit, the second a young woman in winter outfit, and the third an old bearded-man in traditional Arabian outfit.

"Is there anything to report?" Asked the young man.

"I have nothing to report, Berlin." Replied the old man.

"Same here." Replied the young woman. "Though the situation at all fronts are not good."

"Indeed. While the loss of our territory is worrying, it is not critical for the mission success, Vladivostok." Replied Berlin.

"I know. But still…"

Their conversation is halted when the old man suddenly received a hologram photo. When he looks at it, his eyes become wider than saucers.

"Something wrong, Suez?" Asked Berlin, noticing his friend's face.

"Both of you, take a look at this." Replied Suez. His tone indicates that it's something serious.

Both Berlin and Vladivostok take a look at the photon given by Suez. Their eyes are now in the same condition as Suez previously.

"No…no, it can't be…" Muttered Vladivostok.

"What are they doing here?!" Exclaimed Berlin.

"That's your mistake, Berlin. You said that the territory that we lost is not critical. While that is true, do you remember why we took it instead of only Karlsland, some of Orussia, and North Africa?"

Berlin thinks about it for a moment before he remembers the reason. His hologram then becomes static before it returns to normal.

"It seems that our security guards are no longer an option. As the new commander-in-chief since the destruction of Gallia and Venezia, I authorized the upgrade of our forces from security guards to defense forces." Stated Berlin.

"Are you sure that's enough?" Asked Vladivostok with a worried tone.

"We have no choice. I don't have authorization to use military forces and the only way to acquire it is by asking the government. But if I do that..."

"There's a chance that they will use it to find the Confederation and burn our new homes, just like what they did to our home planet." Continued Suez.

"Indeed, Suez. This meeting is adjourned!"

With that, the three holograms disappear, leaving the dark room empty.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Gallia…**

Both teams manage to pass through the forest. Now, they're searching for a place where they can learn about the locals, that means settlement or military base. As they're moving forward, Koyuki suddenly gives a signal to stop. She then gives another to take cover. She and the rest of Vanguard uses a big log while 'Jarhed's team take a cover behind rocks.

"What's wrong, Koyuki?" Asked Smith.

"I detect a movement up ahead." Replied Koyuki.

Abbas, Locke, Gal, and Vata take a peek from their cover to see a vehicle is moving to the right from their point of view.

"That's a German halftrack." Said Locke.

"You know that, Locke?" Asked Abbas.

"Yeah. When you don't have anything to do, turns out searching about 20th century history is kinda fun."

"Locke has the information that can help us in the mission. Giving him an advisor role is a good decision." Suggested Gal.

"I agree, 'Jarhed. Now Locke, who are those people?" Asked Abbas as he points at the soldiers that exited the now-stopping vehicle.

"Those are German soldiers. To put it simply, they're the bad guys of WWII." Explained Locke.

Both teams are now waiting for the vehicle to pass. However, after few minutes the halftrack didn't move a little bit.

"Damn it, what took them so long?" Said Adams with exasperated tone and mood.

"They're currently repairing their vehicle if you're wondering, human." Replied Tang.

"Wait, you can understand them?" Asked Locke surprised.

"Yes. They're speaking in English and thanks to the wind and the fact that they speak quite loudly, I can hear almost everything they say."

Locke is confused when he heard that. The German military during WWII used, well, German for communication purpose. So it's strange that they're speaking English. Perhaps it's a clue to solve the full identity of the locals.

"What are they saying?" Asked Abbas.

"Wait… They're talking about someone named 'Rommel'. Then 'Patton'…and now someone called 'Montgomery'." Answered Tang.

"Erwin Rommel, George Patton, and Bernard Montgomery…oh, s**t!" Cursed Locke.

"Something wrong, Locke?" Asked Smith.

"The three of them are three of the most famous commanders during WWII. It looks like they not only have WWII technology, but they're also experiencing the same event! Abbas, there's a war in this planet!"

While the aliens don't make a fuss about it, the rest of Vanguard are shocked when they heard that. Not there's a war part, but the part where the war is similar, if not outright the same as the Second World War.

"What. The. F**k?" Said Smith.

"You tell me." Said Koyuki, agreeing with Smith.

"Alright, everyone. Keep calm." Stated Abbas. "So Locke, what do you think we should do?"

"Well, the order stated that we must try to avoid contact at all cost. However, knocking or silently killing are permitted. Now, we will wait for them for two minutes at the most. If not…" Locke cocked his MA5D ICWS. "…we deal with them. Every time we wait is every time we wasted. After all, no one is going to miss a Nazi."

"Sounds good to me. Anyone have an objection?" Said Abbas. When no one say anything, the result is clear.

Both Fireteam Vanguard and 'Jarhed's team are now waiting for the two minutes, the minutes that will decide the fate of the Karlsland troops.

* * *

 **And finally it's done.**

 **Some of the weapons that will be used appeared in** _ **Halo 5**_ **. Since the story take place between** _ **Halo 4**_ **and** _ **Halo 5**_ **, the weapons and vehicles from the latter game will make an appearance.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	3. Murphy and Finagle

**Murphy and Finagle**

 **Somewhere in Gallia…**

After waiting for two minutes, the German soldiers finally leave the area. Fireteam Vanguard and Jarhed's team start moving again once the soldiers are out of sight. They managed to not encounter anyone except some wild life. That's a good thing because killing or knocking someone out might compromise the mission.

After walking for more than half an hour, both teams finally see a settlement, only few meters away. From how it looks however, they know the settlement is not the normal one.

"Koyuki, check the settlement!" Ordered Abbas.

Koyuki complies by getting a better view using her scope. When she looks at the settlement, she sees some German soldiers patrolling just outside it.

"Patrol up ahead." Informed Koyuki.

"I see. That means there's going to be more of them inside." Said Abbas as he puts his hand on his chin.

"We should positioned Koyuki and Tang over there, Abbas." Suggested Gal as he points at a nearby hill. "I believe they can get a clear view and give us covering fire if needed there."

"Sounds like a plan, Officer. Alright, Koyuki, Smith, head over there and be our eyes! Adams, you're not equipped with active camo, so you'll be with them! Get your camo ready, Locke!" Ordered Abbas.

"Understood, sir!" Replied the three SPARTANs.

"Tang, head to the hill and watch over the humans that aren't on our side! Dayab, Yadab, watch over him! 'Lodam, you're with me!" Ordered Gal.

"Yes, boss." Replied both Grunts.

"I understand." Replied Tang.

Both teams split up and become still two teams but different composition; Koyuki, Smith, Adams, Tang, Dayab, and Yadab are heading to the hill so that they can give the second team supports while Abbas, Locke, Gal, and Vata are activating their active camos before heading towards the settlement.

* * *

 **Hill**

The support team finally arrived at the top of the hill. Both Koyuki, Smith, and Tang immediately prepare their rifles before setting their eyes on the settlement. Adams, Dayab, and Yadab are guarding their six.

From their respective scopes, Koyuki, Smith, and Tang can see the Elites and other SPARTANs infiltrating through the holes of the patrol's view. Though, they don't need to do that in the first place with their active camos, but better safe than sorry.

Well, one thing for sure they're going to need quite an amount of time to complete the objective.

* * *

 **Romagna Airspace**

Aleksandra "Sanya" Vladimirovna Litvyak is currently flying through the night sky of Romagna. While the patrolling duty at night is at the hand of the 504th Joint Fighter Wing "Ardor Witches" (since it's their original jobs before the 501st JFW are forced to replaced them), Sanya has spent a lot of time flying during the night. So it's more like a habit to her.

Suddenly, she stops moving when she hears something through the night witches antenna. Sometimes, the antenna will catch a signal or two from another device. It's kind of inevitable since night witches methods of communication sort of involving catching a signal, which is why this kind of problem exist.

Sanya once heard a rumor about a night witch accidentally listening to a conversation between a soldier and a…woman of a certain "job". That wasn't an exactly pleasant conversation.

That's why, Sanya is quite careful on what she's currently listening. She doesn't want to hear something that will haunt her until death finally gives mercy to her. What she hears however, makes her confused.

"Reclaimer…Reclaimer…Reclaimer…" Said Sanya softly as she repeats what she heard. From the sounds, the ones who speak them are a male and female.

The Orussian girl can't help but get confused. Reclaimer of what? She tries to hear more of the conversation, something that she usually won't do. But this one sounds very interesting. Alas, it seems the only clear voices that she can hear is when they say "Reclaimer".

Now that she mentions it, she doesn't recognize the signal at all. It doesn't sound like anything the military or civilian use. Nor it sounds like someone just decided to create his own radio. It's very alien to her. One thing for sure is that it's obviously not a Neuroi since previous attempts to hear their communication were failures.

So where's the signal come from? Well, looks like she won't have to think about it anymore since now she hears nothing. Perhaps the conversation has ended. Should she reports this? While indeed the signal is alien, there's nothing important about it except the alien part. Maybe she'll just write a note and drops it on Minna's office.

* * *

 **German-occupied Settlement, Gallia**

If there's one thing that both the SPARTANs and the Elites find relieving in infiltrating a settlement occupied by WWII forces is that the protection is not as good as even a minimum security level prison of UNSC. Then again, the prison is guarded with 26th century technology while these forces used what can only be described as ancient by UNSC standards.

It's quite easy sneaking around the settlement. Besides the fact that they're trained for stealth (less so for the SPARTANs, but they still receive one), they're using an active camo; something that will only exist in the wildest sci-fi book in the 1940's.

The team are walking through an alley soon come across a German officer. They're seeing him exiting a certain building which is guarded by a couple of guards. The building looks quite nice compared to others.

"There's a chance that that building is used as an officer dorm." Said Locke.

"Not an exactly right words, but I agree with you." Abbas then ask something to the support team. "[COMMS] Koyuki, Smith, see anything suspicious?"

"[COMMS] Negative. We're only seeing the two guards that are on your view. How about your, Tang?" Asked Koyuki.

"[COMMS] I see nothing strange either. The other nearest guard is at least a…hundred meters away."

Knowing that the only guards nearby is the couple, Abbas takes out a knife. At the same time, Gal takes out what appears to be a handle of sort. While Abbas doesn't know what that is, it's clear that the weapon is a melee one.

Abbas gives a signal to Locke. The latter immediately claps his breastplate loud enough for the guards to hear, but not loud enough to attract others. Hearing the sound, both of them speak to each other before one of them approach the team position. When the guard is out-of-sight of his friend, Abbas immediately chokes the man's neck and close his mouth before stabbing him at the back. Gal comes out of the alley, still using the active camo, looks around and then runs to the last guard with the handle. The type of the weapon is finally revealed; it's none other than the Elite's infamous Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword.

Gal immediately stabs the soldier through the abdomen before pulling the sword out, letting the body falls to the ground. The rest of them follow in closely.

"Listen, 'Jarhed. I am suggesting that you don't use that kind of move. We could be compromise." Said Abbas.

"Worry not, Abbas. I'll do no such thing if it makes me spotted. When I won't however…"

Gal stops talking and instead opens the door. He gets inside, followed by Abbas, Locke, and Vata, with the last two carrying the bodies. When they're inside, they see that the building looks kind of nice. The team deactivate their active camos since they won't need them. The chances are high that if there's an occupant in the building except the officer, he or she would be sleeping. Both Locke and Vata drops the bodies at nearby chairs and make them look like sleeping. When they do that, Abbas and Gal look around the building to find the officer's room.

After few minutes searching, Abbas finally find what looks like the office. There are papers on the table, maps with marks on them, and possibly an archive or two. He gets inside the room and takes out a special camera. Anything that he took with it would be send directly to the _Infinity_.

* * *

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

Roland is currently doing his own weekly inspection of _Infinity_ before he receives a signal. The signal is rather weak, but he should be able to compare it. Roland immediately compares the signal with every known signal in the UNSC. When he manages to find the most similar signal with the one he received, the _Infinity_ 's AI immediately contact Lasky.

After few minutes of contacting, Captain Lasky has arrived on the bridge.

"I heard that it's important, Roland. What is it?" Asked Lasky immediately.

"Sir, I received a signal that has 98.85% similarity with the known Forerunner's signal." Replied Roland.

"Forerunner's signal?! That means…"

"Yes, sir. Something…or someone is trying to make a contact with us from the ruins of the Forerunner."

"This…this not another Didact, right?"

"Unfortunately, I don't know about that. The only thing I received from the signal is a repeated word 'Reclaimer'."

"I see. Can you tract the signal?"

"The signal is quite weak, but I'll try my best."

"Good. At the same time, contact the Shipmaster. If there's someone with more experience in finding the Forerunner's relic, it will be them."

* * *

 **German-occupied Settlement, Gallia**

When Abbas and Locke run through the documents, they manages to find inconsistencies between Earth's World War II and this planet's World War II.

For example, when they see the map they realize that the North African campaign are still active despite the year of this planet is 1945 according to local calendar that they found. That's fine if not for that fact that the connection between the Africa and Germany is severed. So how the German forces in Africa could receive reinforcement and supplies?

The other inconsistency is that according to a document, the German are fighting something called "Neuroi". At first, they thought that it's just the local's nickname for Allied forces, no matter how strange that is. But then another document said something along the line of "liberation of Karlsland".

Then another document revealed that the German received support of US, Great Britain, and others Allied countries. This is a proof that both the Allied and the Axis are fighting together against the Neuroi. Unfortunately, there's nothing that they find indicates the nature of Neuroi.

The lesser inconsistency, but perhaps the most important one, is the name of the countries. If compared to Earth, USA is US of Liberion; United Kingdom is Commonwealth of Britannia; France is Gallia; Japan is Fuso; Italy is Romagna and Venezia; Austria and Hungary is Ostmark; Russia is Orussia; Finland is Suomus; Sweden, Norway, and Denmark; Romania is Dacia; Belgium is Belgica; Germany is Karlsland; and so on. The type of government is also different when compared with 1940's Earth.

"Huh, I think we make a mistake." Commented Locke when he read the last parts.

"You tell me. Now we have two dead bodies of perhaps actually two soldiers who only do their jobs that none of them involved a systematical genocide." Replied Abbas as he takes a picture of a document.

Suddenly, the light inside the building is out. Both SPARTANs activate their helmets' night vision mode and points their weapons at every possible entrance.

"The hell?" Commented Locke.

"[COMMS] 'Jarhed, this is Abbas, what's your status, over?"

"[COMMS] We are fine, Abbas. What about you, Tang?"

"[COMMS] It's fine here as well. Though I am not going to recommended getting out now as the soldiers are panicking around.

"Damn it. Any…"

"[COMMS] Oh, damn it."

"[COMMS] Something wrong, Smith?"

As if to answer Abbas' question, the soldiers outside begin to scream and firing their weapons. The SPARTANs immediately on their way to the outside with the Elites already there. The scream and firing suddenly stop. When they're outside, they can see what caused the soldiers to react like that.

In front of them, just a few feet away, is a group of what can only be described as animals. Their appearance resemble a saber-toothed tiger. Their entire bodies are black with the exception of a red slit on where their eyes would be. The tips of their tails are pointy, not unlike a knife. One of the creature can be seen biting a Karlsland soldier by his neck.

"What should we do, Abbas?" Asked Locke.

"Stay calm and attack only when…"

Abbas words are cut short when one of the tiger runs towards the team.

"Open fire!" Said Gal as he activates his Energy Sword.

The two SPARTANs and an Elite fire their weapons at the tigers. One of them jump to close in on the team, but Gal immediately captures it by the neck before stabbing the tiger at the abdomen. When the Special Operations Officer pulls his sword, the tiger shattered into white glass-like substances. Another tiger tries to pound the Elite, only for Gal to avoid it and stabs the tiger at the neck. Just like its kin, the tiger shattered into white glass-like substances.

"Area clear!" Stated Abbas as he reloads his MA5D ICWS. "Let's move!"

The team start moving with a fast pace. The team can hear the sounds of Koyuki and Smith's rifles alongside Tang's beam rifle. When they turn at an intersection, the team see the Karlsland soldiers are trying to fight back the tigers. Some of them succeed, especially the ones with flashlight. Others don't have the same result. The team decide to help the Karlslander by destroying as many tigers as they can.

Suddenly, the light returns. It is at that time the Karlslander soldiers see the SPARTANs and the Elites and, in a state of panic, fire at them as well.

"Damn it. No choice. Eliminate the soldiers as well!" Shouted Abbas as he kills a squad of them.

The SPARTANs and the Elites are now cutting both the Karlslander and the tigers. Most of the Karlslander's attention seem to be focused at the Elites, especially Gal. Gal replies it by cutting the Karlslander and the tigers left and right. So far, none of their attacks manage to give his energy shield a significant damage. It's the same thing with the SPARTANs and Vata; their energy shields are still quite strong.

Soon after, the street is covered with the bodies of dead Karlslander and the glass-like substances that start to disappear. The team resume their move and heading outside.

"[COMMS] Koyuki, this is Abbas. How's the condition at your end?" Asked Abbas.

"[COMMS] Quite bad, Abbas. This tiger-creatures keep coming to our direction. Better hurry up."

"[COMMS] Copy that. Hang on there."

* * *

 **Hill**

Adams fires his shotgun at the tiger that's only few feet away from him. Another tiger tries to approach him, but Dayab and Yadab soon dispatch it. Koyuki, Smith, and Tang manage to keep the number of the tigers from overwhelming them. But it is clear that the tigers keep coming at them.

When the three of them are aiming their weapons at the group of tigers, the sudden appearance of the other team destroy most of them, with the three snipers/marksmen picking up the rest. Both finally regroup and start to fall back while firing their weapons at the tigers. Suddenly, the tigers turn their attention back to the settlement, leaving the team alone.

"They're retreating. But why?" Asked Smith.

"Doesn't matter. We have to get out of here." Stated Dayab.

As the team moves, Abbas is calling for an extraction.

"[COMMS] _Infinity_ , this is Vanguard. We managed to complete the objective and requires immediate extraction."

"[COMMS] Solid copy, Vanguard. Proceed to the designated LZ and wait for the Pelicans." Replied Roland.

"[COMMS] Understood, _Infinity_. Vanguard out."

The team is now moving towards the LZ, leaving the settlement and then the planet.

* * *

 **And this chapter is done.**

 **Just a question, but what do you think will happen if the Strike Witches' Earth locals** **see the Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, and Elites before knowing that they're friendly?**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	4. Reclaiming Our Rights

**Reclaiming Our Rights**

 **Answers to some reviews:**

 **Guest:** Well, Master Chief _might_ not appear because he's dealing with…the losses of someone he cared.

 **UNSC Know Your Place:** Oh, come on. The Grunts might have advanced weaponry, but having a member of 501st getting defeated by one is going to be impossible. There's none of them that…wait a minute…

As for HIGHCOM reaction, let's just say someone is going to be interested with the witches.

 **Maroon567:** Well, I don't know whether or not I will make UNSC _Spirit of Fire_ appears. I'll think about it.

* * *

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

Ever since the _Infinity_ received the Forerunner signal, Roland had been busy trying to find any clue about the location of Forerunner relics. He admitted that it's not as easy as it looks like. Forerunner signal is different from human and even the Covenant's.

"How's the progress, Roland?" Asked Lasky.

"Still on going, sir. I am currently asking the help from other AIs. However, the signal came from an area with a lot of place to cover; it's the Alps." Replied Roland.

"The Alps? Damn, that mountain range stretch from France to Slovenia. If we do this manually, we're going to need thousands of men and more than a month."

"It's obvious that we don't have both. Well, we actually have but we have other stuffs to do rather than spending thousands of men and a month searching the Alps for Forerunner relic. The Covenant Remnant are still at large after all."

"Whatever. Keep searching, Lasky." Lasky turns around and starts to walk out of the bridge. "God, I am started to get bored."

* * *

 **Settlement, Gallia**

A Kübelwagen stops in front of the settlement. From the vehicle, three witches disembark; Rosalie, Heinrike, and Geena of the 506th JFW. The three of them are walking through the street as dead bodies covered with white clothes are lying at both sides.

The three of them stop in front of the building with a red cross on it. After given a permission by the guards, they enter the building and meet with a forensic doctor.

"Ah, Squadron Leader de Grunne. Is there something I could help you with?" Asked the aged doctor.

"Yes, doc. Can you tell us the cause of death of the Karlsland soldiers?" Asked Rosalie.

"Of course. I must say, this is the first time I have a true use since the war started. Mind you, that doesn't mean…"

"Doctor, we don't want to hear your story." Stated Heinrike.

"Right. Back to the topic, most of the death are stab wounds at neck, chest, abdomen, and back area. The wounds were created either by a knife or some sort of fang. However, none of them matched the record."

"So we can ruled out the Neuroi as the cause of death?" Said Geena unsure.

"Not so fast. That's _most_ of the death, not all of them. The rest of them died by unique ways. For example, some poor soldiers were killed by bullets."

"That's not exactly unique, doc." Said Rosalie.

"Oh, but it is. I checked the weapons available here. The MP40, the MG42, the Karabiner, none of them matched with the bullets I found."

"Wait, wait, are you saying that someone – a human – decided to came here with an unknown firearm and started killing the soldiers?" Asked Geena disbelieved.

"That's the only conclusion I can draw. Anyway, the other deaths were caused by laser."

"So there's a Neuroi after…wait, how did you know about that?" Asked Rosalie.

"The dead bodies. Some of them have a combination of gun and burn wounds. They look like a gun wound but have a trace of burning surrounding the wound. I once see a Neuroi laser destroy a house so I know the possibility of a wound caused by small laser."

"Neuroi with small laser? That's like a Liberion without their 'liberty' tendency. No offense, Geena." Said Rosalie.

"None taken." Replied Geena.

"Well, I am not an expert on Neuroi, so don't ask me about that. But the last cause makes me confused. It…doesn't match any know wound." Said the doc worried.

"How the wound looks like, doc?" Asked Rosalie.

"Well, it's a stab wound. Should be simple, but it's surrounded by burned skin. I thought I mistook it for a laser wound, but there's no doubt that it's a stab wound."

"So…some of them were killed by getting stabbed with laser?" Asked Heinrike dumbfounded.

"I know. I even smacked myself when I found out about it. But the shape, how it made, only stab wound matched the wound I found!"

"OK, let me summarize it; most of the Karlsland soldiers were killed by a knife or unknown animal's bites, getting gunned by someone with unrecorded weapon, a small laser that will make Neuroi proud with their own, and finally got stabbed with a bladed weapon made from laser." Said Rosalie with a face that indicates she doesn't believe her own words.

"Yes, I am pretty sure it summarized all of it, young lady." Stated the doctor.

Rosalie pinches her nose at the result. One thing she can be sure of is that the paperwork is going to be a nightmare. She then looks at the doctor with a tired look.

"Doc, can you kindly create the file about the causes of death?" Pleaded Rosalie.

"I already did it. If you follow me to my office…"

"Of course."

The three witches follow the doctor as they go to the office. While there are many questions in their heads, the number one is this; who or what caused the death of the Karlsland soldiers?

* * *

 **UNSC Network**

UNSC network is obviously not something you can call a place. However, this only work if you look at it from the human perspective. For the artificial intelligence, the network is something they can call a place.

In the network, the AIs of the UNSC ships of the combined fleet are having a meeting. They held the meeting to share their result about the Forerunner signal.

"So, any of you find anything interesting?" Asked Roland.

"Unfortunately, I found nothing." Said a green AI. It's a male with a traditional Chinese clothes and Chinese ponytail with the front head bald. He's Gan Jiang, the AI of UNSC _New Hope_.

"Well, my calculation indicates the location is somewhere at the French side of the Alps." Said a blue AI. It's a female AI wearing a medieval armor. She's Joan, the AI of UNSC _Toulon_.

"While I don't have the coordinates, perhaps my calculation can be used to find it." Said a white AI. It's a grandfather wearing a Pope outfit. He's Francis, the AI of UNSC _Rome_.

"I am sure this information is enough." Said a purple AI. It's a male wearing a Roman soldier outfit. He's Augustus, the AI of UNSC _State Your Status_.

"Only way one to find out." Stated a red AI. It's a female wearing a World War I pilot outfit. She's Amelia, the AI of UNSC _Song of the West_.

The six AIs then work together using all information they have to find out the exact location of the signal source. After spending a large amount of bytes thinking and calculating, it appears that they finally find the location.

"So, this is the location?" Said Roland unsure.

"Like what I said earlier, only one way to find out." Replied Amelia.

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

Berlin and Suez are having a meeting about their next move. With the humanity gaining the upper hand and "their" appearance, something need to be done.

"I…I… How to you get all of these?" Said Berlin dumbfounded as he looks at a recording.

"After spending several centuries of existing, you will learn a trick or two." Replied Suez. "But this won't be enough to defeat _them_. Even if we outnumber _them_ three to one."

"It won't. But I am sure this is enough to keep us alive, one way or another."

"Anyway, we need to make a significant strike. If we let things go as they are, we will be annihilated by the humans instead of _them_."

"My advice is with the witches that annihilated Gallia and Venezia. Even if we fail, we will still gain result."

"I am not designed to be the one who do research, so I'll leave most of it to you. But the best we can do is sending thousands of drones with most of them won't make it back."

"You think I will let the witches have the fun destroying them? Karlsland is not exactly a good place to send them, which is why I am using the long way to send them to you so that you can send them to Romagna."

"What are these 'them'?"

In response, Berlin gives a few recording to Suez. When Suez sees it, his eyes show interest. The muffled sounds do little to hide the desperate screams of some humans.

"I almost pity the poor humans who must fight them." Commented Suez.

* * *

 **Night time…**

 **Tobruk, Libya**

At the port city of Tobruk, some garrisons of Britannian soldiers are placed on the city. While guarding a city with infantries is something that's considered to be crazy by Montgomery, it's not like he has any choice. Britannian forces lost most of its armored divisions and the remaining must be placed to cover the holes in the Allied frontline. Both Patton and Rommel refused to place any of their armors and instead put them on the frontline, same thing with the land witches.

Because the other option is to completely left Tobruk unguarded, Montgomery sent few infantry divisions to guard Tobruk with substantial amount of self-propelled artilleries and anti-tank weapons.

Few meters away from Tobruk, a jeep with three Britannian soldiers are on their way to the city. Feeling bored with nothing to see but sand, they decide to have a conversation.

"Hey, how long do you think until the war is over?" Asked one of them.

"I don't know. While we're chasing the Neuroi now, those b*st*rds are still capable of dealing massive casualties." Replied the one on the wheel.

"That's right. There are still Neuroi in western and Eastern Europe. It will take a long time until…"

Before the soldier at the back can finish his sentence, the driver suddenly slams the brake, causing the three of them to jerk forward.

"The hell?!"

"There's someone on the ground!" Stated the driver as he grabs a Sten and approaches said someone.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Said the soldier beside him who then follow the other soldier.

When both of them reach the location of said someone, it turns out that there's nothing there.

"Really? Someone?"

"I swear! I saw him with my own eyes!"

"Well then, you better get yourself some glasses.

Both Britannian head back to their jeep, with the driver insisting that he saw someone. When they return however, they realize that something is strange with their friend on the back of the jeep. His head looks downwards but not in an uncomfortable position. The driver approaches him while the other looks around. When he checks the pulse, the driver finds none.

"Damn it, Limbert's dead. Do you…"

When the driver looks at the other soldier, the former sees that the latter is lying on the ground. When he approaches the soldier, the driver sees blood flowing from the latter's neck. Before he can do anything, the driver falls to the ground with a wound at his back.

* * *

 **The Alps**

The Dropship 79 Heavy-Troop Carriers and the Type-52 Troop Carriers managed to arrive on the location without being spotted. Granted, that has something to do with the fact that both transports fly from their ships and went directly to the Alps from the orbit.

When the troops disembarked from their transports, the UNSC is consisted of Fireteam Vanguard along with three squads of marines and the Swords of Sanghelios is consisted of 'Jarhed team with five squads of Grunts, two squads of Elites, and a squad of Jackals.

After checking their equipment, both UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios approach a cave. They walk through the dark and cold place for few minutes before encountering a wall. Adams approaches the wall, feels it, knocks it, and finally punches through it. He keeps destroying the wall until it's revealed that the other side of the wall is an advanced looking door.

The SPARTANs are the first to approach the door. After a while, the door automatically opens by descending to the ground. They then get inside the facility. When they're inside, they're surrounded by advanced looking structure with most of it decorated with Forerunner symbols.

"[COMMS] _Infinity_ , this is Vanguard. We found the Forerunner." Said Abbas.

There's nothing that replied Abbas except the sound of static.

"[COMMS] I repeat, this is Vanguard. We found the Forerunner." Still static. "[COMMS] _Infinity_ , come in!"

"Something wrong, SPARTAN?" Asked an Elite Zealot.

"I can't contact _Infinity_. Chances are high that the same thing will happen if I try to contact other ship." Replied Abbas.

"Perhaps it's like Requiem. I heard that something on the planet prevented communication between Master Chief and _Infinity_." Said a marine.

"Perhaps."

Abbas then remember something important. At Requiem, Master Chief encountered not only the signal jammer, but also Didact and Promethean forces. If that's the case, then…

Before Abbas can finish his though, some things suddenly appear from nowhere. Though closer look reveals that they come from a slipspace. Those things are now revealed to be Promethean Knights. Then, as if things couldn't get worse, Promethean Crawlers emerge and are now on the wall, ready to attack them at any moment.

All SPARTANs and marines are aiming their weapons at the Prometheans. The Elites are doing the same thing with Gal and the Elite Zealots activating their energy swords. The Jackals are activating their gauntlet shields while the Grunts…well, some of them now want to get back to their ships.

Then, something appears from the Promethean side. It's floating, being made out of metal, round-edged cube shape, and has a single eye. Its appearance resembles 343 Guilty Spark, the Monitor of Installation 04. One of its difference is that this Monitor has a purple illumination.

The Monitor looks around for a while. It then focused its attention to the UNSC and the Swords of Sangehelios. After looking at both group for a while, it looks at the UNSC and speaks to them in a high, dignified woman voice.

"Greeting, Reclaimers. I am 074 Sadness Gateway. I am the Monitor of the Library Facility."

* * *

 **And this chapter is done.**

 **Just a question, but how do you think the Strike Witches' humans will reach when they (somehow) find out that the most powerful and influential human in the UNSC is Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky? I come up with the question when I found out that a female is the most powerful human in UNSC and the Strike Witches' military relatively negative view on having woman in armed service.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	5. The Stakes Raise

**The Stakes Raise**

 **Answers to some reviews:**

 **edboy4926:** No, it's just a question. The leader of ONI since the events of _Halo 4_ is still Serin Osman.

 **downyawood:** Mind telling me why you seems to be afraid at the mention of the Library?

As for your question, Neuroi laser is based on the Sentinel beam.

* * *

 **August 22, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 **Pescara, Duchy of Romagna**

It's been only an hour or two since midnight. Most of the members of the 501st JFW are still sleeping with few exception. It's not because they don't want to sleep, but because they have some business to take care of. The first is almost obviously Sanya who is on a night patrol of her own. The second is the CO of the 501st, Wing Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke.

Inside her office, Minna is currently working on the paperwork. While most of the 501st jobs had been transferred back to the 504th JFW, there are still some jobs for her to do. The official reason is that the higher-ups are making sure that the 504th have completely restored since Operation Trajanus. The unofficial reason is because they don't want to leave 501st jobless when they can still use them.

"Seriously, can they think of a better excuse?" Muttered Minna as she signs a paper.

"Well, you know how the brass work; they're making sure that everyone have a job or two." Said Mio as she places a cup of coffee.

Thanks for no longer having her magic, Mio reassigned herself to a desk work for most of the time. There isn't anyone to be taught and she doesn't like doing nothing while everyone else do something. Mio also no longer wearing her eye patch.

"Huh. Sometimes, I really wish that paperwork was never invented." Commented Minna

Mio laughs a little when she heard that. Suddenly, the phone on Minna's desk rings. She picks it up and answer the call.

"This is…"

"IS THIS 501st BASE?!"

Minna almost throw the phone away in shock. She manages to calm herself though and replies the call.

"Yes, sir. Though…"

"GOOD! I need your girls to be here at Camp Tattaglia ASAP!"

"Sir, I need you to…"

"I don't have time for protocol! You must… No, NO, STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

 _BANG BANG_

Minna is shocked when she heard the gunshots at the other side. She then tries to call the man back, but receive no response. She puts the phone back and looks at Mio, who has a face that indicates she knows what to do.

"Wake everyone up!" Ordered Minna.

* * *

 **15 minutes later…**

 **Romagna Airspace**

After the call, almost all members of the 501st – except Sanya and Mio – are flying towards Camp Tattaglia, one of the Romagna military bases responsible for the security on Pescara and the surrounding regions.

"Hey, hey, so what actually happened at Camp Tattaglia?" Asked Francesca.

"That's what we're going to find out." Said Minna.

"Eh? We don't know the reason?" Asked Erica a little surprised.

"The camp requested our help for some reason. But before they can explain the reason, we lost contact with them."

"So we're heading to God-knows-what." Commented Shirley.

During the rest of the flight, the witches remain silence except for few yawns. Make sense since they were taken from their sleep.

The fighter wing finally reach Camp Tattaglia. All light on the base are out, much to Minna's concern. They land just few feet outside of the camp.

"Shouldn't we land somewhere inside?" Asked Yoshika.

"No, we don't know what's inside. Better outside." Replied Minna.

After making sure that their strikers will be fine, the witches start walking towards the camp with their weapons ready. At the entrance, they see that there are two guards; one is inside an outpost while the other is lying at a bar. Both of them are not in good positions, the kind that will make your body uncomfortable.

Yoshika and Gertrud approach each of the soldiers. Yoshika checks the one at a bar and when she realizes there's no pulse, she looks at the other witches with a sad face and shakes her head. Gertrud checks the pulse of the soldier inside the outpost and receives the same result.

"Who could have killed them?" Asked Eila.

"Considering that the base remains intact, I guess that it wasn't Neuroi." Replied Erica.

"Well, better not stand here all night and start looking for survivor." Said Minna as she goes deeper into the base.

As the witches walk through the camp, they see that almost every corner and nook have a corpse of soldier or two. They can see that there's a wound at either the neck or the chest.

"My God." Commented Yoshika as they keep walking.

"For this scale of death to go unnoticed…" Muttered Lynette.

"Something is going in here and we're going to find out about that." Stated Minna.

The witches finally reach the command post. When Gertrud tries to push the door open, she realizes that something is blocking it. She uses her magic a little and gives a big push to the door. It opens and falls off its hinges. When they look inside, Gertrud realizes that it was a body of an officer that blocks the door. She approaches the officer and puts him in a more respectful position before closing both of his eyes.

"All of you, stay here! I'll check the office!" Ordered Minna as she opens a door.

As she walks inside, Minna turns on a flashlight and looks around. She sees some bullet holes on the wall, a dead officer with a revolver on his right hand, and the disorganized condition of the office. She looks around the room for a minute but find nothing that could help her. Sighing, Minna turns off the flashlight and exits the office.

"Did you find anything?" Asked Gertrud.

"Unfortunately no, Barkhorn. Except the dead officer inside. When we get back, we better contact the main base." Replied Minna.

The witches exit the command post and walks a few feet before Erica says something.

"You know, at least we don't find any Neuroi."

Suddenly, they can hear a footstep that doesn't belong to them. Then another one. And another one. All of them turn on their flashlight and put it under the barrels of their weapons. When they look at the source, they see a tiger with Neuroi pattern on its body. Then they find more as they point their weapons at many directions.

"'No Neuroi'? You had to open your mouth!" Exclaimed Gertrud.

Just right after she said that, one of the tiger runs towards Gertrud. Minna immediately guns it down and the tiger soon shattered.

"They're Neuroi." Shouted Eila as she begins shooting.

"But why they look like a tiger?" Asked Yoshika.

"It matters later. For now, keep firing." Stated Minna.

The witches are now firing at the tigers that try to kill them. They're quite an easy targets if not for one single fact; most of the ones they fight are decoys. Two tigers managed to reach the roof of the command post undetected. They then jump off and try to strike Lynette. Yoshika however manages to see it.

"Lynne, watch out!" Said Yoshika as she erects a barrier to protect Lynette.

The tigers try to pass through it, but the shield manages to protect the two witches. However, Yoshika can't handle the force of two tigers and falls to the ground, her shield disappear. Before they can use the chance, Perrine and Francesca destroy both of them.

"Just how many of these tigers exist?!" Commented Erica.

"Maybe next time you should try not to tempt fate." Replied Gertrud.

"How should I know…"

Before Erica can finish her words, Eila immediately push her aside. It prevent her from being pounded by one of the Neuroi. Gertrud immediately strikes it with the stock of her MG, thus destroying the tiger.

The witches keep firing non-stop until they're sure that all tigers are destroyed. Lynette sees one and shoots it, destroying the last Neuroi.

"Well, that's the last of them." Said Erica.

"What did I said about tempting fate?" Said Gertrud quite angry.

"Damn it, Trude. I am not an idiot, okay? I am sure it's fine by now!"

After Erica said that, Eila suddenly sees something in the future. After seeing it, she immediately pushes Erica and Gertrud. In the process, it creates a domino and pushes the other witches as well.

"What do you think you're doing, Eila?!" Exclaimed Perrine.

Suddenly, something big landed where the witches were. Very big. When they look at it, their faces become pale. Standing at least three and a half meters tall is the biggest spider they ever see. Though the appearance indicates that it's a Neuroi as well. It has four legs instead of eight, and a visible head and neck as well. On the "head", there are two pieces of red eyes.

"Open fire!" Shouted Minna.

All witches fire their weapons at the Neuroi. However, Shirley notices that something is not right.

"Everyone, hold fire!" Shouted Shirley with Gertrud, Minna, and Perrine still shooting. "I said hold it!"

"What's wrong, Liberion?! We should defeat the Neuroi as soon as…"

"Silence, Trude. See something wrong with it?"

Gertrud looks closely and the Neuroi and realizes what's wrong with it; despite their intense fire, there's not even a scratch on the thing. There's also the fact that the Neuroi doesn't move as well.

"What? How?" Shouted Francesca.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Said Shirley. "Lynne, shoot it."

"Eh, right." Replied Lynette as she shoots the Neuroi.

When the bullet leaves the anti-tank rifle and hits the Neuroi, a light appears, surrounding the Neuroi like a second skin. When she looks at the place where the bullet hit, Shirley becomes even paler than before.

"Oh God, IT HAS A SHIELD!" Exclaimed Shirley.

The Neuroi lets out an ear-piercing scream before charging towards the witches. Despite having their ears hurt, all of them manage to dodge and shoot at it, only for the shield to protect the Neuroi.

"Neuroi with shield? Now that's new!" Stated Francesca.

"This is not the time to feel excited!" Retorted Minna.

The witches are still shooting at the Neuroi, since it's better than do nothing. There's also the fact that they hope that the constant fire barrage will finally take down the shield. The Neuroi fires a pair of laser from its eyes. Yoshika and Erica – its targets – raise their shields and block the attack. However, the Neuroi raises both of its front legs and smashes it at both witches direction. It causes a small tremor that makes both Yoshika and Erica lose their balance and fall.

The Neuroi is about to charge to both of them when it suddenly gets hit by an explosion. It then receives a rain of leads from the sky. When the witches look up, they see that Takei Junko, Dominica S. Gentile, Jane T. Godfrey, and Angela Salas Larrazabal of the 504th JFW have arrived.

"The Ardor Witches…" Said Minna surprised.

"Hello there, Wing Commander Wilcke. Looks like Sakamoto decision to call us had a good result." Said Takei.

"Sakamoto?" Said Yoshika.

"That's right. Oh, and looks like the Romagnan military have arrived as well." Said Dominica as, just like she said, a reinforcement arrived.

"Call them back!" Shouted Minna.

"W-what?" Said Takei surprised.

"This Neuroi is different! This one has a shield!"

"Neuroi…with shield?" Said Jane quite unsure.

The Neuroi, when seeing the reinforcement, charges towards them. The witches and the main forces shoot at it, but only hitting the shield.

"Holy cow, that really is a shield!" Commented Dominica.

The Neuroi raises one of its leg and stab through a Fiat M13/40. It stabs the tank with another leg before splitting it apart. The Neuroi then fires at two other Fiats, destroying them. The infantries tries to damage the Neuroi, but their weapons proved insufficient at dealing with the shield. Some of them are then killed when the Neuroi stomps them, with the witches unable to do anything.

"Damn it, we can't let this continue!" Stated Francesca.

"What do you think we're trying to do?!" Retorted a pissed Perrine.

Well, considering their enemy, it's not a surprise.

The witches keep firing their weapons until when Yoshika hits it, the Neuroi now shows some damage.

"The shield is down!" Shouted Jane.

"Good work, girls! Now hit it hard!" Ordered Minna.

When the 501st fire their weapons, they only able to fire some rounds before realizing a very serious problem; they run out of ammo. To make thing worse, it appears that the Neuroi knows about it and decides to charges at them. The Strike Witches can only do one thing; run like a little girl! Some are tempted to raise their shield, but right now they don't want to risk their shield falling apart. Defending against Neuroi laser and being stomped are two different things.

"Well, looks like it's up to us now!" Said Dominica.

"Everyone, tear that Neuroi apart ASAP!" Shouted Takei.

Seeing that the witches can now damage the Neuroi, the remaining Romagnan infantries fire their weapons as well. It however – despite damaged – is still capable of fighting back and fires its laser at the infantries and then the 504th. The witches raise their shields and block the attack. Not so much for the former as there are only half of the previous reinforcement and without armor support.

Finally, constant fire barrage took its toll; the Neuroi starts walking limply before finally falls to the ground. Just to be sure, the witches keep firing their weapons for a minute before stopping. They wait for a minute or two and see that the Neuroi doesn't disintegrate into a glass-like substances.

"What's wrong?"

"Is it dead?"

"Of course not, fool. Look at it! It doesn't become a glass!"

"Somebody check it."

After few minutes, a brave Romagnan soldier slowly walks to the downed Neuroi. Once close, he pokes it with his rifle. Seeing that there's no response, he carefully rubs the outer skin.

"I don't think we need to worry about this. As far as I can tell, this Neuroi is…"

Before he can finish his sentence, the Neuroi explodes, killing him. The explosion also send shrapnel to all direction. The witches raise their shield to protect themselves with the infantries try to take cover behind a building or the tank wrecks. Some of them got killed and others wounded.

Yoshika and Lynette immediately approach the wounded soldiers to heal them. Meanwhile, the other witches takes some rest with Minna and Takei having a conversation.

"Correct me if I am wrong, but Neuroi didn't explode when they're destroyed, right?" Said Takei.

"That is correct. Each time a Neuroi is destroyed, it will become a glass without an explosion." Replied Minna.

"And yet this one did."

"There's also the fact that the Neuroi has a shield. That's the first."

Minna can't help but sigh at the thought. They run out of ammo just to take down the shield. Sure, they spent a large amount of bullets on the Neuroi tigers. But, that's not the most important part. Minna feels a quite terrified at the thought of these kinds of Neuroi. The tigers were capable of killing a large amount of soldiers without setting of the alarm and the spider-like one has a shield.

The normal military forces can barely defeat a standard Neuroi. If those two kinds become common, than the military might possibly depend entirely on the witches. Minna dreaded the day that day come.

Then, there's one thing that's important as well. Neuroi fought by firing laser. So why these two have a melee attack? Is the Neuroi trying to upgrade their forces with them being almost defeated?

Minna really hopes that they can defeat the Neuroi before they decide to make their forces even stronger than this.

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

Berlin feels a little bit annoyed when one of his experimental unit was destroyed. That thing need quite a large amount of resources as well as time to be made. Thankfully, the battle shows that the unit is not suitable as common unit.

On the other hand, the other experimental units while a success, will no longer as effective as they were previously. The humans will surely adapted so that they can have a tactic to counter both type of units.

The hologram of Berlin Hive disappear. When it disappear, it is revealed that there's someone in the room. Whoever that is, it has a humanoid shape. It's wearing some sort of black armor that look futuristic compared to the humans of this Earth. On the face, there are two completely blue eyes.

The figure then grabs a futuristic looking pistol – again, by the humans of this Earth standard – and checks it. It turns around to look at half a dozen figures with the same armor, carrying a futuristic rifles. The first figure lets out a high frequency noise as it move, followed by the other figures.

* * *

 **And another chapter is done.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	6. Installation of Knowledge

**Installation of Knowledge**

 **Answers to some reviews:**

 **Maroon567:** The spider is smaller than Scarab just for you Forerunner-Neuroi hybrid is just you. However, there is a reason why they have a Forerunner-like appearance.

 **downyawood:** Of course: Gravemind and 343 Guilty Spark. Worry not since none of them are going to make an appearance.

…maybe.

 **New Universe Returns:** Sorry, friend. Never watch Ultraman since elementary school and can't suggest someone good.

* * *

 **October 24, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)**

 **Library Facility, the Alps**

After two days of the discovery of the Forerunner facility, the UNSC and the Swords of Sanghelios established their presence inside. Most of them are still nervous with the existence of the Prometheans, but the Monitor, 074 Sadness Gateway, assured them that they won't attack unless provoked. And even if someone – either humans, elites, or other species – decides to shoot them, they still need a clearance from her to counterattack. Of course, if the Promethean's existence becomes threatened, it will eliminate the threat.

Both Thomas Lasky and Rtas 'Vadum are currently walking through the facility with Sadness Gateway.

"So, Gateway, mind explaining why this facility is called 'Library'?" Asked Lasky.

"Because this is the Library." Explained Gateway with matter-of-fact tone.

"I think what Captain trying to say is the reason of the naming. We have found a library in Installation 05." Said Rtas.

"Oh, why don't you asked that earlier then?"

Lasky tries not to roll his eyes. The reports are correct; the monitor – despite being smart – can be called annoying. Looks like now he knows the reason.

"The library at Installation 05 is _a_ library. This facility is _the_ Library." Explained Gateway.

"Does that mean this facility holds all of knowledge that belongs to the Forerunner?" Asked Lasky.

"Oh, dear. Of course not. Almost all Forerunner knowledge were stored in the Domain, and I don't have the knowledge on how to access it. After all, storing such knowledge on a facility is beyond foolish. Can you imagine what happen if the Flood manage to gain it?"

Both Lasky and Rtas think about most of the Forerunner technology that they know, then imagining the Flood using them. Both shiver a little at the thought. Lasky then realizes that there's something important; something that he must ask.

"Gateway, is there a Flood in the Library?" Asked Lasky.

Rtas looks at Lasky with a surprised face before looking at Gateway.

"Worry not. This facility does not contain even a trace of a single Flood spore. You can relax." Answered Gateway.

Both Lasky and Rtas let out a sigh of relief when they heard that. At least they don't have to deal with the parasite. That kind of situation is the last thing everybody need.

A teleportation grid suddenly appear. Its appearance is similar to the ones at Requiem. The UNSC and the Swords become tense when they see that. Their fingers are on the trigger of their weapons, prepared to pull it at the slightest hint of aggression.

Appearing from the grid turns out to be another monitor. This monitor though seems to be darker in color than Sadness Gateway. Its illumination is also orange instead of purple. After the monitor, five Promethean Knights appear from the grid. The foremost however looks different from the other four. Most of its body is segmented to numerous disparate components that are not physically connected. The glowing "skull" on its face is not covered like other Knights. Like the other Prometheans though, his illuminations is blue.

"Ah, it appears that you have returned from Sector 01, Aggressive Fiber." Greeted Gateway to the other Monitor.

"I have returned. There is nothing wrong with Sector 01." Replied the other Monitor.

"Wait, wait, hold on." Said Lasky as he raises both of his hands. "Another Monitor? Aggressive Fiber? Sector 01?"

"Ah, forgive me for my neglect, Reclaimer. It had been approved that due to the circumstances, the Library Facility will be monitored by two Monitors." Explained Gateway.

"Greetings, Reclaimer. I am 711 Aggressive Fiber. I am Monitor of Library Facility." Greeted the other monitor in deep male voice, 711 Aggressive Fiber. "As for your other question, the facility is separated into several sectors. Sector 01 is located at the northern part of the continent south of our location."

"South of us? That's Africa." Said Lasky.

"Mind telling me who or what is this, Oracles?" Asked Rtas as he gestured the outstanding Promethean Knight.

"Oracles?" Said Lasky dumbfounded.

"Try to call your planet something other than Earth unconsciously, Captain." Retorted Rtas.

"If both of you don't mind." Said Fiber to gets the attention of both individuals. "Alright, this is the AI responsible to lead the Promethean forces in case of an attack on the Library Facility; the Warden Solo."

The Warden Solo walks a step or two before formally introducing itself.

"Greetings, Reclaimer. I am the Warden Solo. I responsible for the entire security of the Library Facility." Greeted the Warden with a smooth, deep male voice.

Lasky is a little surprised when he heard how smooth the voice of the Warden considering his terrifying appearance. Well, it's not like he's terrifying for him. But if a civilian just even has a brief look on the Warden, Lasky can bet that person is going to run for his live like a little girl.

"Can I ask a question?" Asked a marine with both monitors, well, nodding. "Why is it that the Library is built separated? Every other Forerunner installations that we found, they always intact."

"It is build that way to accommodate the tectonic plates that keep moving at least an inch every year. With this way of construction, the possibility of two sectors or more colliding is 0.000375%." Explained Fiber.

"Not completely zero?" Asked an elite.

"Tectonic plates' movement is something that's quite hard to predict. While the Forerunner have created a way to do so, we do not possess such knowledge nor any device capable of doing that." Explained Gateway.

"How long have this facility been built?" Asked Rtas.

"It has been built at least 10,000 years ago." Replied Gateway.

"So, that means the plates had moved at least 10,000 inches." Stated Lasky.

"Correct. When that the result of the movement started to become significant, the protocols that must be done are numerous." Said Fiber.

Everyone turn their attention to the Warden Solo when he clears his throat, or at least creates a noise similar to that.

"I informed you that we must prevent the meddlers from finding Sector 01. I do not believe that our previous measures were enough." Informed the Warden.

"I do not think we are currently inspecting the continent of Africa." Said Rtas.

"Incorrect. While you are not Reclaimer, you are also not a meddler because the Reclaimers have given you a permission to access the Library." Replied Gateway.

"Then who are you…are you talking about the humans of this planet?" Said Lasky when he suddenly got that idea.

"Correct. While both of you are humans, there is a difference between the humans seeded on Erde-Tyrene with the humans seeded on Chese-Pece, which is the designation of this planet. The genetic imprint that the Librarian placed on the humans of Erde-Tyrene makes them Reclaimers, while the imprint that the humans of Chese-Pece have makes them 'backup' Reclaimers. Unless all humans of Erde-Tyrene are annihilated, there's no possibility except one for the humans of Chese-Pece to become Reclaimers." Explained Fiber.

"Wait, how do you know if all humans from…'Er-de-thy-reen' are annihilated?" Asked Lasky as he butchered the word "Erde-Tyrene".

"There is a way. The protocol dictates that we do not explain the details of it." Replied Gateway. "Also, it is spelled ' _Er-da-ty-reen_ ".

"Right. Back to previous business, you said you want to prevent the humans of…this planet from finding Sector 01?"

"Indeed. They're currently too primitive to have the right to receive what this facility holds. Also, their last experiments show that these humans cannot be trusted with non-human technology."

"What are you talking about? How could they have access to something not human by origin if they do not have the capability of space travelling?" Asked Rtas curious.

Both monitors and the Warden look at each other before Gateway asked something.

"You…do not know the condition of this planet, do you?"

"Except the part that their technology is our equivalent of WII's, not so much." Said Lasky.

"I believe that we have no choice but to give you the full briefing of the situation." Stated Fiber.

* * *

 **Empire of Fuso**

It is currently night at the Land of the Rising Sun. Most of its people are sleeping, with some are still awake because of work and other reasons. They can peacefully sleep and doing other activities because ever since the Fuso Sea Incident, the Neuroi never make even a single attempt to attack the empire.

But not tonight. This night, people of Fuso will remember how fear feels like.

A male Fusoan is currently has a very frightened face. So frightened, he could die because of shock and heart attack. It makes sense because right now, in front of him, is a pitch black mask with two glowing blue eyes being worn by someone, or rather something as the thing in front of him is too large to be a human. The thing's hand is holding his head, forcing the man to look at its eyes. Then, its other hand grabs his shoulder before it twists his head in such a way that his neck brakes.

The thing raises the corpse before throwing it off a cliff. It then start to walk towards a nearby town. Its entire body is covered by pitch-black armor with glowing red lines. The only other color it has is blue which its eyes. As the thing moves, half a dozen same figures appear out of nowhere. They're wearing the same armor albeit looking less elaborate than the first being. They're also shorter, although still taller than average men.

They are here for two reasons; to strike fear at the hearts of the people who had been accustomed with the overall peace of their country and to cut some flowers before they bloom.

When they're close enough to the town, the figures activate their active camos, making them invisible to the humans. They then walk through the town silently either through the empty street or the rooftop. Despite its importance, the presence of the military is minimum and most of the security they found are consisted of police officers who aren't even capable of giving them a challenge.

Once they passed the town, only a mile or two is their target; the witches training facility. It's a long walk, but what makes human tired hardly makes them sweat. When they see the facility, which resembles an airport for obvious reason, they can see that there's barely any guard.

Foolish. That is what inside the thought of them. While they can understand the lack of security if the country haven't been attacked since that incident, the fact that the lack is to this extend almost incredulous them. Nevertheless, they won't waste this chance.

They manage to silently pass through the guards. They look around and find their target; the witches-in-training dorm. One of them stand guard in front of the door while two of them go inside with a knife at their hands. The duo see eight bunk beds, which means there are at the most eight would-be witches inside.

A pity. At dawn, they won't see the sunshine.

The two of them approach the furthest bunk bed. One of them approaches the lower bed from one side while other approaches the upper one from the other side. With their way, they signal each other and strike at the same time. First, they smothered their mouths, preventing them from screaming for help. Both of them can see the fear at the wakened witches-in-training. Then, they raise their knives before finally…

* * *

 **August 25, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 **Camp Metabaru**

Kuroe Ayaka is waiting at the field in front of the runway for the witches-in-training to come. She had been send by the Fuso Imperial Army Flight Evaluation Bureau to oversee the quality of the training in the facility.

However, it has been more than half an hour since she arrived and there's no sign of them.

"Damn it. While I know this place is not one of the best, at least the report said that this place is good enough to…"

"AAAAAAHH!"

Ayaka stops muttering when she heard the scream. She immediately run towards the source and see a frightened soldier is crawling away from a building while keeping his eyes on it.

"What happen, soldier?" Demanded Ayaka as other personnel approach the building.

The soldier looks at her, still having that frightened face. He points his shaking hand at the building.

"T-T-T-The witches! T-T-They…"

Ayako spends no time and immediately looks inside. What she sees is something that she won't forgot for the rest of her life.

Inside, there are bloodied bunk beds. Both the lower and upper beds have blood on them. Ayaka approaches the closest lower bed to check it. There, she sees a corpse of a girl with stab wounds on her chest. Her face indicates that she's on the verge of crying when death took her.

Ayaka turns to the personnel outside, almost all of them have a terrified faces.

"Get me your superior! This is emergency!" Ordered Ayaka.

"Y-Yes, ma'am." Said one of them before running, trying to search for his superior.

Ayaka exits the building as people from medical bay arrived. That won't be necessary, she thought. She grits her teeth and clenches her right hand. Never since the start of Second Neuroi War, there's a record of witches died this way. To make it worse, none of them have not even served once.

This war, it's going to be more brutal than ever.

* * *

 **And this is done.**

 **So, can you guess the "figures" who killed those witches-in-training?**

 **By the way, about the Warden Solo's voice, think about Morgan Freeman.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	7. No One is Safe

**No One is Safe**

 **Answer to a review**

 **Nuggetmanu2:** Well, considering the Warthog is just a jeep (sort of), the Neuroi laser can take it out easily. And no, the Neuroi is capable of space travelling and even FTL using slipspace.

* * *

 **August 26, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 **Pescara, Duchy of Romagna**

"Yes…I understand…unfortunately, we never deal with this kind of thing…of course, sir."

Minna puts the phone back after the conversation with the top brass is over. She looks at Mio who's having an emotion that is a mixture of horror, sadness, and anger. Make sense since she's reading at the report of the deaths of the witches-in-training at Camp Metabaru.

At first, many of the top brass thought that it was the Neuroi that caused the deaths. Then, someone reminded them that Neuroi used laser to fight – not stealth – and never seen ever since the Fuso Sea Incident. And another, another person reminded them about the new Neuroi that annihilated an entire camp without raising the alarm.

Sufficiently said, everyone is confused. The current problem is that the public demand answer; an answer that none can give. Needless to say, they're now trying their best to find out the culprit, warned the witches about the assassinations, and try to expect what else the Neuroi can send to them.

"This is a disaster. The first time witches killed in their sleep quite literally. And it happened at one of the safest place since the Second Neuroi War." Commented Mio as she closed the file.

"Huh, you tell me. We managed to push the Neuroi back to Karlsland in the west, Libya in the Africa, and Vladivostok in the east. However, it appears the Neuroi is becoming more brutal as the result." Replied Minna.

"I agree with you. The annihilation of all personnel on Camp Tattaglia, soldiers at Africa being killed at night without warning, and perhaps the deaths of the witches-in-training." Mio shows a sad face. "I have been wondering, how many live do we have to pay to defeat the Neuroi? In the recent year, they have become more and more of a threat than ever before. Not even the Neuroi during the first war is this advanced and they beat us."

Minna can't help but agree with that. Humanity have been fighting Neuroi for centuries if not millennia and yet they know little about them. Where they come from, why they attacked humanity, how advanced they are, and many other unanswered questions.

One thing for sure is that the Neuroi are hardly came from Earth, despite the fact that their appearances pre-second war were similar to many mythological creatures. Some scientists believed that it was a psychological tactic and the reason they changed their appearances is because the Neuroi knew that humanity now fear vehicles of war like tanks and planes more than said creatures.

"By the way, I heard that there's going to be a major attempt to take back Karlsland." Said Mio.

"That's true. The plan involved using the witches and paratroopers to capture the bridges along the Rhine and reinforcement from the ground forces. The witches will fly from Batavian and Gallia. After that, the ground forces will join in and start the march to Berlin." Explained Minna.

"If everything goes smoothly, then we will retake Karlsland by Christmas. What is the name of the operation?"

"It will be called Operation Market Garden."

* * *

 **October 26, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)**

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

Lasky is currently looking at the information given by 074 Sadness Gateway and 711 Aggressive Fiber. Turns out, this planet had been invaded by an alien called "Neuroi" by the local since 1939. Though it actually went back to 1936 in Hispania and 1937 near Fuso. Lasky noted that the dates are similar to the start of Spanish Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War, and World War II.

In reality, it was Roland who noted it since Lasky – while know about WWII – knows little to none about the former two wars.

"Alright, anyone has an idea how humanity with WWII tech can hold on against the Neuroi while we barely do the same against the Covenant with ours?" Said Lasky to everyone on the bridge.

"Maybe Neuroi is weaker than the Civies."

"Yeah, that's a possibility."

"Or perhaps they have a secret weapon to fight back."

"Like witches."

Almost everyone in the bridge turn their attention towards the person who suggested the last possibility. It's none other than _Infinity_ 's XPO, Armstrong.

"Armstrong?" Said Lasky confused.

"You remember the intel than Vanguard collected?" Lasky nodded in response. "Well, some of them said something along the line of 'the witches help us completing the objectives against the Neuroi'."

Lasky puts his hand at his chin as he thinks about it. He turns to Roland and asks something.

"Roland, were there anything about 'witches' in our WWII?"

"Except the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces? None, sir." Replied Roland.

Seeing that there's currently no clue about the true identity of the "witches", Lasky decides to keep it for later. However, there might be someone who know something about the Neuroi. Remembering how long they exist, they might have had an encounter with them before humanity.

Now thinking about it, Lasky sighs as he sees the luck that humanity had with their first encounters. First with the Covenant? Genocide. Forerunner? Digital conversion. The Flood? Almost apocalypse. Now, the Neuroi? Typical alien invasion. It seems that humanity have a bad luck when talking about first encounter.

Putting those thoughts aside, Lasky decides to contact one of his possible informant.

* * *

 _ **Shadow of Intent**_

"[COMMS] Why are you asking me about that, Captain? You do know that we never met until Harvest during the Ninth Age of Reclamation." Said Rtas 'Vadum to Lasky at the screen.

"[COMMS] I am not talking about the war, Shipmaster. I am talking about whether or not the Covenant had once met the Neuroi." Stated Lasky.

"[COMMS] I never meet any creature that fit these Neuroi's description. But, the Covenant had existed for centuries and we had met many other species with yours only being the latest." Replied Rtas. "[COMMS] There is a chance that our predecessor once met this creature. I am going to take a look at the old database."

"[COMMS] Thank you for the effort, Shipmaster. Lasky out."

With that, the communication between the _Infinity_ and the _Shadow of Intent_. Rtas turns his attention to one of the Sangheili Minor and gives him an order.

"Brother, send a message to Special Operations Officer Gal 'Jarhed that his presence is needed."

"At once, Shipmaster."

The Minor then exit the bridge. Few minutes later, Gal enters the bridge. He goes towards the Shipmaster and bows a little.

"Shipmaster, I am honored to be in your presence." Said Gal.

"There is no need for formality, my brother." Replied Rtas as Gal straights up. "I am going straight to the point; have you heard about the creature that the locals are fighting?"

"The Neuroi? Almost everyone in the ship – perhaps even the fleet – have heard of it. I am not an exception."

"Indeed. While we have information about them, almost all of them came from the oracles. They recorded all events ever since the Neuroi first appearance until now. However, I do believe we need a first-hand experience."

"Are you suggesting that we launch an attack on the Neuroi, brother?"

"Hmm… No, that will not be necessary, for now. What I mean is gathering the information about the creature from the locals who had been fighting Neuroi for years."

"I believe that is a good idea. But from where? The locals are spread throughout three continents."

"The continent called Africa. I believe that is a good place to start. Few settlements mean lower chance of detected. We could ask the oracles to bring us there through Sector 01."

"I will have my team ready, Shipmaster."

"Good. That should be all, brother. You are dismissed."

With that, Gal bows a little once again before leaving the bridge.

* * *

 **Pacific Ocean**

Voyaging towards Fuso are none other than two Liberion aircraft carriers - USS _Hornet_ and USS _Wasp_ – along with their escorts. The ships have two objectives; patrolling around the Pacific and delivering some materials to the Fusoan. The materials are not much, but they're valuable for research on both airplanes and strikers.

Standing at the bridge of the _Hornet_ is Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle of the United States Army Air Forces. After serving for few years at Europe, the brass decided to transferred him to the Pacific as an unofficial recreation. The fact that the Neuroi never attacked the Pacific makes the deployment there considered a recreation.

" _Well, while I don't mind my transfer here, I really wish that I could go back to Europe ASAP and create a plan to kick the Neuroi *** back to space._ " Thought Doolittle. " _The alternative is that the situation here has some…action_."

Suddenly, there's a beeping sound that can be heard by everyone on the bridge. When they look at the source, they see a radar operator adjusting the device, now only he can hear the beeping. He listens closely on the sound while seeing at the screen for the object location.

"Sir, I am detecting unidentified aircrafts near our position!" Reported the operator.

"Where's the location?" Asked the captain of _Hornet_.

"It's…here."

"…Say again, son."

"Here. But, that can only mean…"

Doolittle's eyes become wide as he immediately runs outside. When he looks up, he can see several unknown airplanes diving towards _Hornet_. The planes have a strange design; they only have a pair of big wings at the rear of the planes. There are also a pair of rods – one on each side – at the sides of the planes, just few centimeters from the cockpits. He can't see the color of the planes, but they're definitely a dark one, perhaps blue or black.

As alarm rings through the carrier, the planes fire some sort of blue flames, two of each plane. After releasing their payload, the planes fire laser, aiming them towards _Hornet_. At that moment, Doolittle realizes who possessed these planes.

"Oh, sh…"

Before Doolittle can finish his curse, the flames and the laser hit _Hornet_ , setting her on flame. One of the laser penetrates the runway and hit the ammunition storage, creating a big explosion on board the carrier.

The planes change their direction and heading straight towards Fuso. On their journey there, they are being hit by AA guns, but they only hit the planes energy shields. The planes retaliate by strafing any ships they can hit, making three destroyers and two cruisers explode. One of the attack also hit the _Wasp_ at the ammunition storage, sending her ablaze.

The planes finally pass through the Liberion ships and now have a clear way to the capital of Fuso Empire; Tokyo.

* * *

 **Tokyo, Empire of Fuso**

Just like many places in the Empire, Tokyo is a busy city. People are walking in dozens, hundreds, and perhaps thousands on the street. Even if there is a war on Europe and Africa, since Fuso is very, very far from those places, its citizens can do normal activity without worry, something that most European and African will consider a luxury.

But not today. Today, everything changes, for better or worse.

The workers on the port are doing their usual jobs – transporting cargo, tending ships, inspecting something – when they see something is coming from the horizon. Make that some things as there are more than one. They stop their activity and walks as close as they can without falling to the water to see the things. When they realize that the things are planes and coming to their position on high speed, everyone start to scatter, trying to find a cover.

The planes finally reach Tokyo. With their destination reached, the planes immediately wreck havoc at the capital city. They begin to shoot with their laser and bomb with their blue flame indiscriminately. They attack anything they see; buildings, humans, animals, none is speared.

Some of the soldiers stationed at Tokyo start running to the nearby AA emplacements. Emplacements that they thought they would never use. Now, they feel lucky that they've some preparation.

Before some of the emplacements can fire a single shot, the planes attack them. In the end, only a small number of emplacements build on Tokyo can retaliate. But their retaliation is useless. The energy shields on the planes are just too strong.

The planes resume their attack. As civilians running around in panic, trying to save their lives, a plane flies closer to the ground and fire its laser and blue flame, killing dozens of humans. They keep and keep attacking without mercy. Civilian and military alike are killed.

After a quarter of an hour attacking Tokyo, the planes start flying towards the orbit, just in time as the witches and other reinforcement arrive. The mistake of positioning the witches and their bases far from the capital has caused the Fusoan to pay a heavy price.

Their country is no longer save.

* * *

 **At the same time…**

 **Pearl Harbor, Hawaii**

It's currently morning on the harbor and the rest of Hawaii. Many Liberions are still on their beds or having some relaxing activities like a morning jogging or eating at a local restaurant. Pearl is considered to be one of the safest military installation on Earth.

The Harbor will soon lose that reputation.

Some kids are playing soccer at the field when they hear something loud. It sounds like a booming voice. When they look at the source, they see that planes are descending from the orbit at high speed. The same type of planes that attacked Tokyo.

The planes are approaching the ships docked at Pearl Harbor at high speed. This makes any nearby radar operator unable to warned the harbor in time. When the ships are one their sight, the planes fire their blue flames towards them.

The first wave of flames hit USS _Arizona_ , USS _Oklahoma_ , and USS _Utah_. The planes, who are flying in formation, spread out and start hitting the docked ships with everything they have. The Liberions now realize that the Pearl is in danger, begins to counterattack. The energy shield on the planes protect them from any damage.

The first ship casualty is the _Arizona_. One lucky hit from a laser penetrates her armor and hits the ammunition storage, making her explodes. The next casualty is the _Oklahoma_. Repeated hits from the flame finally takes its toll; with so many parts of her damaged, _Oklahoma_ begins to sink.

Some planes are targeting the airfield, where a large amount of Liberion planes are stored. They bombard the field with their laser and flame, destroying a large amount of planes. Some of the witches stationed on Pearl tries to take off, but the planes annihilated them before they can fly.

Unlike its counterpart on UNSC Earth, on this event there are two aircraft carriers; USS _Yorktown_ and USS _Lexington_. Both of them become the planes primary targets. They are hit by a large amount of laser and flame. While none of them hit any vital part, the attacks are not useless; _Lexington_ is now on fire. Almost her entire upper part set ablaze. The damages that _Yorktown_ took are finally enough to sink her.

Also unlike its counterpart, the planes also attack the facilities like oil depots, dry dock facilities, etc. The attack will ensure that Pearl Harbor will be useless for military operation for a long time.

One hour and half since the attack started, the planes start to fly back to the orbit, suffering no losses. The Liberion on the other hand received severe casualties; many of their ships destroyed, thousands of lives lost, and the destruction of facilities completely disabled Pearl Harbor.

Just like its neighbor across the Pacific, United States of Liberion is no longer safe.

Now, no one is safe.

* * *

 **And done.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	8. Africa Storm

**Africa Storm**

 **Answers to some reviews:**

 **edboy4926:** Let's just say that the war against the Neuroi will never be the same again.

 **minecraft93:** Well, it's not like they want to.

 **Maroon567:** No, it's Neuroi. The color of the planes is black, but Doolittle can't see it clearly, hence his doubt of the planes being colored black.

 **DEFCON-1:** To put it simply, the war will become more intense.

* * *

 **August 27, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 **Pescara, Duchy of Romagna**

Near the base of the 501st JFW, there are many trucks parked nearby with weapons, equipment, etc. scattered around them. With the defense of Romagna now fall once again to the hands of the 504th JFW, the 501st is about to be relocated to the frontline of the western front, which is near the borders of Karlsland with Batavian and Gallia.

However, the mood in the briefing room indicates that something bad had happened. Really bad.

Every member of the 501st have been in the room for a couple of minutes. After having silence for that long, Minna decides to break it.

"Alright, everyone please listen!" The attentions of the 501st are now on her. "I am here to informed all of you about three disastrous events that took place yesterday."

"What kind of events, Commander?" Asked Perrine.

"On August 26, 00:39 Zebra time, at Pacific Ocean, a group of planes believed to be belong to the Neuroi bombarded USS _Hornet_ and USS _Wasp_ along with their escorts, resulting in the loss of 1,254 personnel, three destroyers, two cruisers, and USS _Hornet_ with _Wasp_ under heavy damage and believed to be out-of-service for 2 months at the least. One of the greatest loses is a Medal of Honor recipient; the posthumously promoted General James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle."

The revelation shocks everyone in the room. However, Minna is not finished at the slightest.

"On 01:15 Zebra time, the same group of planes performed a raid on Tokyo. The raid resulted in the loss of more than 800 people on both military and civilian."

"Then, happened almost at the same time as the Neuroi raid on Tokyo, another group of planes launched an attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack resulted in the loss of 2,549 personnel, 248 aircraft, 2 aircraft carriers USS _Yorktown_ and USS _Lexington_ , 3 battleships USS _Arizona_ , USS _Oklahoma_ , and USS _Utah_ , and dozens of cruisers, destroyers, and submarines."

After Minna delivers the shocking news, she can see that everyone has the same expression; shock, disbelief, terrified.

"H-How is it possible?! Both Fuso and Liberion should be out of Neuroi's range of attack. Furthermore, there shouldn't be any attack ever since the Fuso Sea Incident!" Exclaimed Shirley.

"Indeed. We believe that the Neuroi actually has the capability to launch the attacks, but decided to only executed them years after the beginning of the war. Thanks to that, they caught us with our pants down." Replied Mio as she clenches her hand.

"Due to these events, we will receive less support from Fuso and Liberion due to both countries have started to strengthen their defense. In fact, some of their ships have been called back."

Some of the girls realize that it's a big blow in the overall capability of Allied forces. Both Fuso and Liberion were far away from the frontline and thus can safely devoted their industries to help the war effort. These were unlike Britannia and Romagna during the early stages of the war that – while defended by the witches – lose at least one factory or two each time they're attacked and replacing even one is not an easy task.

But now both countries are going to devoted most of their resources to the defense of themselves. Which means that they will be less supplies, less ships, less troops, etc. Many Allied top brass have realized that depending on one or two countries for you war industry is not such a good idea. Something needs to be done, and fast.

"That is everything I have. You are dismissed!" Stated Minna.

As she and Mio exit the room, the rest of the 501st are discussing about the turn the war has decided to make.

"Say Shirley, how much did the attack damaged Liberion?" Asked Erica.

"To the point that we don't have enough ships to protect our coasts. Luckily if I am not wrong, there are currently a large number of aircraft carriers and some battleships under construction." Replied Shirley, quite shocked about the events especially Pearl Harbor.

"Well, that's a good thing. Anyway, Yoshika, is your family…"

"Don't worry, Lynne. My home is at Yokosuka, and it's a part of Greater Tokyo, not the capital city itself." Assured Yoshika, though she can't help but worried about her mother and grandmother.

"Man, to think that Neuroi will attack with planes, who would ever…"

"That's it!" Exclaimed Trude as she interrupted Francesca.

"What is it, Barkhorn?" Asked Perrine.

"I forgot to asked Commander about the Neuroi's designation. Every time they attack, their designation was either heavy, drone, turtle, or something like that. But _never_ a vehicle name. So why this one is given that name?" Explained Trude.

Now that she said it, everyone realize that something is different with these attacks. While Neuroi have vehicle-like appearances, ranging from tank to airplane, they were never called that because their strange design. At least by their standards.

This means that something must be different that makes the Neuroi designated as "planes" instead of other designation like "heavy" or "light". And then there's Minna's word "belong", as if she wanted to say that the Neuroi didn't _look like_ a plane, but rather _have_ a plane. Remembering how Neuroi look like, they doubt that even one of them can enter said plane. Even the witch-like Neuroi have "striker unit" as their body, thus making piloting a plane also an impossibility.

"Well, I think I'll ask Minna about that. For now, we can only hope there won't be anything bad happen." Commented Trude.

Of course, like what Murphy said, "Anything that can go wrong, _will_ go wrong."

* * *

 **October 27, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)**

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

Lasky is currently waiting for a connection between the _Infinity_ and the HIGHCOM. At first, Lasky decided to contact the HIGHCOM after finishing the inspection of almost all Library Facility while occasionally send them reports. However, after he saw the attacks that the Neuroi did on Liberion carriers, Tokyo, and Pearl Harbor, he knows that he must act. And fast.

But he can't just rush in and help the local. He needs the permission from HIGHCOM. After all, they're his superiors and the ones who execute this expedition in the first place.

When the connection is established, Lasky gives a salute to his superiors. When he looks at the people on the other side, he doesn't see Fleet Admiral Sir Terrence Hood, Chief of Naval Operations.

"At ease, captain." Said one of them, General Hogan of UNSC Marine Corps.

"Thank you, sir. Permission to speak?"

"Permission granted."

"Where is Lord Hood?"

"Lord Hood is currently busy with some administrative problems. So unfortunately, he won't be attending this meeting."

"I understand. Sir, I am pretty sure all of you had received my reports?"

"Indeed, we have, Lasky. I am surprised that there are other humans besides us in the galaxy. Who knows how could this happen." Said General Nicolas Strauss of UNSC Army.

"I have some theories. Either they're our cousins or when the Forerunner seeded the galaxy, they seeded humans on more than one planet. The last one is a theory made by one of the monitors."

"Monitors? Plural?" Asked Hogan.

"Yes, sir. There are two monitors tasked to guard the Forerunner facility designated as 'Library Facility'; 074 Sadness Gateway and 711 Aggressive Fiber."

"Thanks for the information, Lasky. I know you enough Lasky, that you won't made this contact with the HIGHCOM due to…" Hogan glances a little bit at the woman besides him. "…reasons unless it is very important."

"Indeed, sir. This is my latest report on the planet."

Lasky sends the report to the HIGCOM for them to see. When they read it, they show little surprise and some intrigue.

"So they're being invaded like us, except in happens during 1936 while for us the first alien invasion happened in 2525." Commented General Dellert of UNSC Air Force.

"I agree, sir. At first, they can hold back the Neuroi with WWII weaponry. Then, their latest attacks show that they possessed energy shielding, orbital-capable fighter planes, laser, and possibly plasma. This makes their air force on par with the UNSC and the Covenant, at least on terms of combat capability. I believe that the Neuroi is only recently show the true extend of their weaponry, which is why there are high casualties on the latest attacks." Explained Lasky.

"It's indeed troubling. We barely hold the Covenant with the best of what the 26th century can offer, and it still didn't enough to prevent them from attacking the Inner Colonies and even Earth. The result of this invasion will be more obvious than Forerunner is a forerunner." Said Strauss.

"Which is why I am asking your permission for a proposal, sir." Stated Lasky.

"What kind of proposal, Lasky?" Asked Hogan.

"I proposed that we use the combined fleet to support the local humanity in fighting back the Neuroi. Then, we established connection with the planet and the UNSC so that they will have a better chance next time they received an alien invasion. This will also result in what I believed to be a reunification of humanity."

The faces that the top brass show suggest that they agree with the proposal. After all, while the UNSC's role is the defense of Earth and her colonies, almost all of them won't mind helping other humanity that's not part of their colonies.

There's one problem however.

"What do you think will happen if you revealed yourself?"

Lasky's entire body become stiff when he heard that. He can feel that cold sweat is starting to formed on his forehead. He slowly focused his vision on the only woman in the committee, but more powerful than the rest of them combined; Admiral Serin Osman of Office of Naval Intelligence.

"I am…afraid that I don't understand the question, ma'am." Said Lasky worriedly.

"Let me put this, Captain. You said that these Neuroi air force is on par with us and the Covenant. What else that they could be on par with us? Their army maybe? Perhaps even their navy. We know little to nothing about them and as far as we could guess, they're another Covenant in all but ideology and name."

"I agree with you, ma'am. However, the fleet is consisted of several of our best ships including _Infinity_ and _Shadow of Intent_. I am sure that…"

"Sorry for interrupting, Captain. But please answer this question; let say _Infinity_ and _Shadow of Intent_ are part of the ships in the defense of Reach. Can you defend Reach from falling?" Asked Osman.

Lasky really want to say yes, if that means the CINCONI will give her blessing. However, he knows that both _Infinity_ and _Shadow of Intent_ – no matter how powerful they are – will be outnumbered and outgunned by the 315 Covenant ships, even with the supports of the ODPs and 152 ships.

"No, ma'am. Not even with both ships we can prevent the Fall of Reach." Said Lasky with a sigh.

"That's right, Lasky. There's a chance that the Neuroi is a powerful as the Covenant at its height. Sure, the chance is perhaps low, but still a chance." Said Osman.

Just like her predecessor and the rest of ONI, Osman shows a sign of paranoia on something that she didn't know. Fortunately, ONI's paranoia is what makes them capable of preventing the extinction of humanity most of the time. Emphasis on "most of the time".

"So, how is it, ma'am?" Asked Lasky.

"For now, keep yourself hidden, observe, and wait for further order. That way, even if the planet's fall, it won't happen with the best of our best." Replied Osman.

The rest of the committee, who were agree with Lasky earlier, now agree with Osman. Though Lasky know it's out of fear rather than because they see Osman's proposal as better. It's always like that, the only time they're brave enough to defy ONI is when their proposal is about mundane stuff and not too important, the one where ONI won't bother making them "disappear".

"I understand, ma'am." Said Lasky with a salute.

"Good to hear, Captain. I believe this meeting is over." Said Osman.

"Before that, we need a name for the planet. We can't just call it 'planet', and the name that the Forerunner used, this…'something-or-whatever' is too difficult to be pronounced." Suggested Dellert.

"I believe 'Frontier' is a good name. The location of the planet is quite far from the Outer Colonies. It will also become our furthest colony _when_ we colonized it." Suggested Osman.

Lasky realizes the emphasis on "when" and the usage of the word instead of "if". He _really_ wishes that he doesn't know the meaning behind it. About the name though, everyone agrees and this time it's genuine.

"Now, I believe the meeting is finished this time."

With that, the connection between _Infinity_ and the HIGHCOM is severed. Lasky calls Roland to demand something from him.

"Roland, please tell the cooks that I want them to make the strongest coffee available in the ship."

"At…once, sir."

Lasky then exits the bridge and headed straight to the mess hall. This is a very stressful day, and he knows it.

* * *

 **Library Facility – Sector 00, The Alps**

Gal 'Jarhed is currently approaching 711 Aggressive Fiber. He's about to ask for a help to get to Sector 01 – which is Africa – before the monitor immediately say something.

"You're here, the ally of the Reclaimers? Good, now I want your help to…"

"Wait, wait, Oracle. I don't understand what you're trying to say." Said Gal immediately.

"I am sorry. It's just that we received that there's a…complication at Sector 01. Namely, the discharged Prometheans are escaping thanks to the meddlers."

"Discharged Prometheans?"

"Yes. The Neuroi attacked not only the humans, but also performed expeditions to the facility. We managed to fend them off despite they also managed to gain something or two. The expeditions caused us the losses of several Prometheans and Armigers. In order to replenish our forces, we created a large number of Promethean Knights. But some of them are not…suitable." Explained Fiber.

Gal _really_ does not want to know how the monitors managed to create more Knights, knowing that it won't be pleasant at all. Still, at least he knows what the monitor is trying to say; there's a group of Knights that are combat capable but have problems that makes them went rogue.

"I see. Then why are you asking us instead of the humans?" Asked Gal.

"The Reclaimers are busy exploring the facility and some are on their way to Sector 07, which is in Antarctica. Also, I know that weaponry speaking, you're more advanced than the Reclaimers." Explained Fiber.

"I understand. In that case, my brothers and I are more than willing to help you." Said Gal.

"Excellent. Now, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

 **Few minutes later…**

 **Library Facility – Sector 01, North Africa**

A teleportation gird appears inside a vast room. From it, Aggressive Fiber along with some Promethean Knights appear. They're soon followed by the Swords of Sanghelios, ranging from the tiny Unggoys to the giant Mgalekgolos. They're lead by Special Operations Officer Gal 'Jarhed.

They walk a few steps before stopping in front of a door. Fiber floats around a little bit before delivering a bad news.

"Oh dear, large number of Knights right behind that door. We open it, and they'll fire at us." Reported the Monitor.

At first, Gal is willing to do just that, some casualties on their side but complete annihilation of the Knigts. However, he realizes that because there's no Flood in here, there's a chance that the security is not as strict as the ones with them.

"Oracle, is there a way for us to flank them?" Asked the Sangheili.

"There is. One moment." After few seconds, they can hear that something is opening. When they look at the wall, they see a door is opening. "Go through that door and you will see a ventilation. It's big enough for you to walk through it. Just follow it and you will arrive at the other side."

"Understood. 'Lodam, Tang, you're with me." Said Gal as he activates his Energy Sword.

The three of them go through the door. When they see the room, it's a small one with a vent on the wall. Vata approaches the vent, opens it, aims his weapons inside, before getting in. He's soon followed by Gal and then Tang.

The three of them walk through the vent with a little discomfort. While it's big enough for them to walk, they need to crouch a little, making having a walk not quite comfortable. Halfway to they're destination, they can hear the screams of humans. When they look at their left, they see another vent. The only things they can see are hard light going to one side, copper bullets going to another side, and various grenades thrown from both sides. The screams though help them figuring what's happen on the other side.

Gal, Vata, and Tang continue their walk before finally reaching another vent. This one is a dead end. Vata kicks the vent off before they exit the ventilation. They scan around and find themselves in a similar room. They exit the room quietly and see that right in front of them is a group of Promethean Knights with their backs shown.

Gal is the first to make a move. He runs to the Knights and cuts through one. He then diverts the sword to the one besides him. The other Knights soon realize they are attacked from behind. They start firing their weapons at the trio. Luckily, the three of them manage to take cover before their shield are down. From behind their cover, Vata attacks back with his Type-57 Carbine while Tang with his Type-27 SASR. Gal deactivates his Energy Sword and now wields Type-56 Needler.

It is at that moment that the Swords and Fiber's forces breach in. On the first wave are the Mgalekgolos who immediately fired their assault cannons at the Knights. Then, the Sangheili Zealots charge in with their Energy Swords. It's a good thing that there is a difference between the Knights that against them and the ones who support them. The ones against them have orange illuminations while the others have blue illuminations.

With their back attacked once again, the rogue Knights spilt-up; some attack the flanking trio while the remaining attack the main forces. Casualties start to build up among the Swords and Fiber's. Some Unggoys and two Sangheilis are killed with some Kig-Yars wounded. There are only few place can be used to cover, so the rest must constantly dodge. Some Knights belong to Fiber have been destroyed. Fortunately, half of them are revived by the Watchers. They destroyed the rogue Watches to prevent the same thing happen to the destroyed rogue Knights.

Seeing that the number of rogue Prometheans are depleted, Gal activates his sword again and joins with his Zealot brothers. He quickly destroys many Knights and Watchers before they can deplete his energy shield. With their efforts, they manage to finish off all the rogue Knights and Watchers.

"Excellent! Excellent! The result is that the entire Knights and Watchers that went rogue are destroyed…which isn't actually good since there's perhaps a…"

Whatever Fiber wants to said, he stops speaking the moment there's gunfire from the door leading to the next room. Fiber immediately knows that the humans are currently falling back to their position. He opens the door to see that three humans are walking backwards towards their room as they fire the Z-130 Suppressor on their hands. Gal knows that's a brilliant idea since their current weapons won't be enough to bring down the Knights' shield.

After the three of them enter the room, Fiber closes the door and the soldiers finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Jesus, that's a close one." Said a soldier in Karlsland uniform.

"It is, meddlers. Now, which one of you open the containment door?" Asked Fiber without warning.

Right now, Gal doesn't know what he actually wanted. Either telling Fiber that his priorities are kind of screwed up or the fact that he shouldn't told the humans, thus making them aware of the aliens behind them.

Slowly, the three humans turn around, their fingers on the triggers of the Suppressors. The moment they see the aliens and the Prometheans, they do exactly one thing; fire at will. The Swords – thanks to instinct – retaliates and kill all three of them.

"Oh dear, that's unfortunate." Said Fiber simply.

"Alright, new rule; try not to surprise the humans." Said Gal.

* * *

" _I did not sign up for this!_ "

That's the line that pass through the mind of Michelle Wittmann. It was to be a simple reconnaissance mission. She, along with Fredrica Staudegger, Rachel Roy, and the 13th Infantry Company of Karlsland will go to the nearest Neuroi position, see whatever happen at the position, return back, and report it.

Everything become bad the moment they found this accursed cave.

When they were about to camped, they found the cave and decided to used it. When they went inside, they realized that it's deeper than what they though, so they decided to went further in. That was when they discover what inside the cave.

She didn't know how to describe it. Despite the fact that it's handmade, it also radiated a feeling of natural and paralyzing. They were just about to set up a camp, perhaps took some pictures and send it to the top brass…

…when whoever that idiot was open the damn door!

From that door, came upon dozens of what she could only described as robots from one of those Liberion comic books. The robots immediately fired at them the moment they see the witches and the soldiers. It became an almost hopeless battle the moment they found out that the robots have energy shields and except machine guns, grenades, and cannons, most of their weapons were unable to bring down the shields.

It was only when they took out some of them and used their own weaponry that they possessed a fighting chance. Unfortunately, the weapons have a very strange design that everyone have a problem using them. It's a good thing that someone finally figured out how to reload the damn thing. But by then, they have lost more than half of the company and now on the run.

Currently, Wittmann, Staudegger, and Roy are hiding behind a wall as some Promethean Knights approaching their position. They check their Suppressors before looking at each other.

"You girls ready?" Asked Staudegger.

"Ready than ever." Replied Roy with Wittmann nodding.

"Good. Let's…"

Before Staudegger can finish her sentence, something is rolling near her feet. She only manages to has a brief look at it before that thing – revealed to be a grenade – explode on her feet and disintegrate her. Both Wittermann and Roy are out of the range and immediately fall back. Three Knights then appear and shoot the witches. They raise their shields and keep it before returning fire. They destroy one and forcing two to take cover. The witches slowly walk backward while keeping the aim of their weapons at the covering Knights.

Suddenly, more than a dozen of them appear and begin shooting. The witches quickly raise their shields to protect them. The intense fire prevents them from retaliating. The attack starts to become too much for the witches and Roy's shield is finally destroyed. The shots from the Knights hit her and she falls.

"ROY, NO!"

Wittmann tries to approach Roy, but doing so cause her to be vulnerable. The shots hit her at the knee and scratch her side. She falls as well but manages to keep her shield up. But she slowly loose her consciousness from the wounds.

" _Hehe, so this is how I die, huh? Instead of dying due to old age or fighting Neuroi, I die here, inside a cave, with no one will ever know my demise._ Our _demise._ " Thought Wittmann.

The last thing she saw is a humanoid figure attacking the Knights before losing her consciousness.

* * *

After finishing the Knights, Gal takes a look at the downed figures of two female humans. From little information that he has about the UNSC, they are rather young to serve in the military. But that could be because he never met someone younger. One thing for sure though is that despite faint, one of them radiates an aura of a warrior. Gal has a bad feeling about the condition of the other female.

"Sir." Gal looks at the speaker and sees Vata. "The Oracle told us that there are only few Knights left. We're moving in to finish them off."

"Good to hear, brother. Tell some of our brothers that I need them to evacuate these humans."

"At once, brother."

As Vata goes back and the rest of the forces headed to the other way, Gal crouches to inspect the still-alive female human. She was definitely armed with a Suppressor from a fallen Knight. She's also wearing some kind of machine at both of his legs.

That, and the fact that by UNSC standards, she doesn't wear the lower part of her uniform. Perhaps it's thanks to the machine on her legs. Gal sees that her knee is bleeding and puts his hands to stop it.

"Worry not, young warrior. You will live to see another glorious battle. That is something I can promise." Said Gal to Wittmann.

Half an hour later, the combined forces of Fiber's Prometheans and the Swords of Sanghelios eradicated the remaining rogue Prometheans, clean Sector 01, and perform medical evacuation on the only survivor, Hauptmann Michelle Wittmann, the Black Baron.

* * *

 **And the chapter is finished.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	9. History Repeats

**History Repeats**

 **Answers to some reviews:**

 **DEFCON-1:** If things go smoothly, Michelle will be more than that.

 **New Universe Returns:** I think it's a good idea. Though I prefer another planet rather than whole universe.

* * *

 **October 28, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)**

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

Wittmann slowly opens her eyes. Her eyes disagree with her attempt as there's a light and its quite strong. However, she forces her eyes to open and finally they do. It was at that moment that she realizes that she's seeing a ceiling with lamp and currently lying on a bed.

Wittmann looks around the room. She can see a white wall, white ceiling, white sheet, now that you think about it, almost all color that she sees is white. Wittmann can also smell a trace of chemical substance in the air. That means there's only one place she can be; hospital. Or a place similar to that.

Wittmann suddenly realizes that there's something strange with her left arm. As if something is embedded inside it. When she looks at her arm, it's clearly shown that there really is something embedded. It looks like a needle used by doctors. But instead of a syringe, the needle is connected to a tube which is connect to a bag on a pole via a thin hose. Wittmann is about to take it out when she hears someone speaking.

"Don't do that, kid. Unless emergency, I suggest you wait until the doctor or a nurse comes in."

Wittmann turns to her right to see a woman lying on a bed next to her. She has a copper brown hair and eyes. Her appearance put her as either Liberion or Britannian, though that might be wrong. What stood the most however is the right feet that is suspended in the air by a cloth on a pole. Oh, and there's a cast on said feet.

"W-Who are you? Where am I? What is this needle embedded in my arm?" Asked Wittmann.

"Whoa, that's a lot of questions, kid. But I guess that makes sense, considering your…conditions. Anyway, name's Sarah Palmer. I am a commander and in charge of…special forces here. You're currently inside a medical bay. That needle is called IV. They used it so that they can gave you medicine on constant rate despite you being unconscious."

She must admit, Wittmann is kind of surprised when she heard that the woman, Sarah Palmer, is a commander and leads a group of special forces. Sure, there are quite a lot of witches that hold the rank of wing commander which is the air force equivalent if she's not wrong. But Palmer looks like someone in her early 30s, which will make her a witch an impossibility. And except former witches, there's no record of a woman holding a rank of seaman (or rather seawoman), much less a commander.

While there are non-witch women in the military, like in Liberion, all of them are desk workers or secretaries. And according to Palmer, she leads special forces and presumably also having a combat duty. That sounds very unlikely and even impossible because even the top brass that support the witches _won't_ support normal woman fighting on the frontline.

Except Orussia. They're the first country that allowed women to fight on the frontline.

Wittmann decides to think about it later and focus on other things. One of them is that she's in a medical bay. She looks around for a bit and see no one except Palmer. If she's here, then that means some people – presumably the people who owned this place – must have found her. However, she doesn't see Roy or other soldiers. The only two options are they are somewhere else or didn't make it. Wittmann doesn't want to admit it, but the latter is the most likely, no matter how grim it is.

Wittmann then looks at the IV line on her arm. It only hurts a little and feels more uncomfortable. Though that makes sense since she has a needle stabbed on her arm. She must admit that this is a brilliant idea. Even if the patient is unconscious for a long time, they will still more than capable of giving the patient his/her medicine. However, she wonders how on Earth they're going to feed the patient.

Wittmann remains silence for the next few minutes before she can't take it anymore. She decides to have conversation with the only person in the room; Commander Palmer.

"Hey, erm, Commander Palmer?"

"What is it, kid?"

"First, I am not a kid. My name is Michelle Wittmann and my rank is hauptmann. Or captain in Britannish."

"Alright, Miss Wittmann…"

" _Captain_ Wittmann."

"Look, little girl. You're too young to be a captain since you're only 16 or 17 years old. There's an exception however and that's by skill. So, until you show me yours, you're not worthy of your rank."

Wittmann can't help but really want to rub her entire achievement on Palmer's face; something that she usually wouldn't do. She took out more than 120 Neuroi at Africa for God's sake! Granted, she took most of them with her friends, but she still deserved her rank, damn it! Oh, when she shows her what she can do, she will make sure that Palmer eats her words.

"Fine, Commander. By the way, what happen to your feet?"

"Hmm, this? Oh, there's been some accident during a War Game. I insisted to the doctor that I can still fight, but he told me doing so will land me on a hospital for months instead of the weeks that I spent on this bay."

Wittmann is rather confused at the term of "War Game". What's the meaning of those words? A game that's played during war? A war that's only a game?

Before she can ask Palmer about War Game, a doctor and a nurse enter the bay. The former has a clipboard and is reading it while both of them approach her. He flips a paper on the board before looking at her.

"Good day, miss. I suspect that you have a good sleep?" Asked the doctor.

"Yes, I am, doc. Hey, can you please remove this from my arm?" Asked Wittmann regarding the IV line.

"I am afraid not. We're going to need to run a couple of tests before we get the result. That result will decide whether or not you no longer need the IV."

Wittmann grumbles a bit while looking at the IV line. She really wants this thing to be off of her arm. It starts to feel itchy and while she wants to scratch it, she doesn't want to know what will happen if she does that.

"Alright, doctor. Say, how long have I been unconscious?" Asked Wittmann.

"Only a day." Replied the doctor simply.

"Oh, that's good to hear."

As the nurse replace the IV bag, Wittmann can help but realize that something is odd. The position she currently use is a mix of lying and sitting. She doesn't do this because she wants but because the bed makes this position the only comfortable one. She never sees a bed like this before. Then, the lamps on the ceiling have a shape of a rod instead of bulb. The bay also feels cool despite no fan on sight.

" _Well, I think I'll ask about it later._ " Thought Wittmann.

* * *

 **August 28, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 _FLIP FLIP_

"No."

 _FLIP FLIP_

"No!"

 _FLIP FLIP_

"NO!"

 _BLAM_

When Eila slams the table, it brought the attention of almost everyone in the room. Curious, Yoshika and Lynette approach the table of her and Sanya.

"Is there something wrong, Eila?" Asked Yoshikia.

"You damn right there is! I already did it half a dozen time, and the results were never good!" Exclaimed Eila.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Lynette.

"Remember when Minna said about the attempt to set a foothold on Karlsland?" At that question, every witch nodded. "Well, I tried to predict what will happen, but all I got is these!"

On the table, there are tarot cards. The cards in question are reversed Fool, reversed Emperor, reversed Strength, reversed Wheel of Fortune, upright Hanged Man, upright Tower, and reversed Star.

"If I translated it, then that means the operation will be foolish and reckless, domination of sort will occur because one side will be weak, situation will be out of control, there's going to be a sacrifice and disaster, and despair will fall." Explained Eila.

"Isn't that…too bad to be to be true?" Asked Yoshika worriedly.

"I…I don't know, Miyafuji. All my previous predictions were quite good or quite bad. But never something…catastrophic like this."

"Eila, you once predict something wrong, right?" Asked Sanya.

"Yeah, that sometimes happen." Eila lets out a little laugh that has an ironic sound. "Never in my life that I wish my prediction is wrong."

* * *

 **August 30, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 **Gallian-Karlsland Border**

Above the morning sky, hundreds of planes accompanied by 5 dozen witches are approaching their destination; the Karlsland side of the Rhine. Their objective is to capture ten bridges to give the rest of the Allied forces a clear way to Karlsland. Then, link up with Britannian XXX Corps along with other units and defend the bridges until further reinforcement arrive.

This is not going to be easy. The liberation of Batavian proved that the Neuroi will fight to the last drop of blood (no one care if the term is right or not) for every inch of land. Karlsland is not only now one of the homes of the remaining Neuroi in Europe, but also home for at least three Hives.

The 1st Allied Airborne Army finally arrived at Karlsland airspace. Over 1,000 bombers begin to drop their cargos. Both the fighter planes and witches are prepared for the counterattack from the Neuroi…

…which doesn't happen for some reason. While they want to wait until the Neuroi attack, they almost reach the LZs. Above them, the paratroopers begin to drop off their planes and parachuted towards their LZs. After some paratroopers landed and the planes begin to fly back to Gallia, the witches split up to five groups. Each group will help the paratroopers in securing each bridge.

If everything goes right, then Karlsland will be liberated by Christmas.

* * *

 **10 miles north of Weil am Rhein…**

Two regiments from the Liberion 17th Airborne Division and Karlsland 1st Parachute Division are cleaning the LZ, repacking their weapons, and checking that no one is missing. The 12 witches that will support them have arrived just right when both paratrooper units are about to walk.

"Captain, are your men ready?" Asked the leader of the witches' group, Squadron Leader Alexis Alexander.

"Ready than you are." Replied the CO of the regiments, Captain Frank Walter.

With that, the paratroopers and the witches are now heading towards Weil am Rhein. They are armed to teeth and more than ready to face any Neuroi that dare to show them its black hexagonal body.

* * *

 **Half an hour later…**

Now, while they're more than happy than to face the fact that no Neuroi will attack them, that fact is the last thing everyone expect will happen. They encounter _no_ Neuroi. Not even the witches detect any Neuroi from far away. There's no laser, no screech, and no unknown black aircraft or land vehicle.

Normally, people will cheer when this happen. However, the paratroopers and the witches are deep behind enemy lines. And the Neuroi decided that sending even a single recon drone is not worth it. They're very fierce in the front line yet don't even show themselves in their own base. Something is happening and none of the human there like it.

"Are you sure the witches didn't see even a single Neuroi, Squadron Leader? They could be wrong." Suggested Walter.

"For God's sake, Captain. I already told you five times; no, we found none!" Exclaimed Alexander. "Never in my life I am going to wish that a Neuroi appear."

"That makes two of us."

After a while, they finally reach Weil am Rhein. The city – like any other city once under Neuroi control – is in ruin. They only way you know there once a city in this place is by the remains of the buildings. The group find the bridge and settle in front of it.

"Corporal, patch me with the HQ!" Ordered Walter.

The corporal, who is carrying a backpack radio, begins to make a connection with HQ. After several moments, he gives the phone to Walter.

"[COMMS] HQ, this is 4th Allied Airborne Regiment. We captured the objective, over."

"[COMMS] And without firing a single shot?"

Walter is surprised when he heard that. There's no way that the HQ can know about the situation or expect this kind of situation. Unless…

"[COMMS] Yes, sir. I guess the other regiments reported the same thing?"

"[COMMS] Damn right they were. Not even a recon Neuroi."

"[COMMS] I see. Sir, I don't like this not even a bit. No Neuroi on our home? Fine. None in their own base? Creepy."

"[COMMS] I agree, son. However, the operation will still continue. We can't miss this chance. HQ out."

Walter gives the phone back to the corporal. He then walks around until he finds the right place to tell the news.

"Alright, listen up. We'll camp here and guard the bridge until the XXX Corps arrive! Disperse!"

Soon after that, the Liberion and Karlslander begin to set up a camp either using a tent or making the remains more comfortable. Operation Market Garden is estimated to require at least two weeks to be finished. Why is that being everyone guess.

* * *

 **Few hours later…**

Most of the soldiers are encircling a campfire while sitting. They're sharing experience, eating some snack, and some decide to have an early nap. Most of the witches had landed with the rest patrolling the night sky.

"Hey, Sarge. Got any good story to share?" Asked a Karlsland private.

"The only one worth a share is when I found out one o' my boy had an 'exciting' adventure with one of the witches." Replied the Liberion sergeant.

"Exciting adventure? What did they do? Hike a mountain, swim in the ocean?" Asked a seemingly naïve Liberion private.

"Liberion, you still have a lot to learn." Stated a Karlsland corporal before laughing, soon followed by everyone else.

 _PIIIII_

Everyone look towards the outskirt of the town when they hear that. Then, they hear a voice that makes their bones chill.

"Man down! Man down! We got a man down!"

The soldiers begin to grab their weapons and head towards the source. When they reach it, they see several soldiers and witches already there. They also see a medic is checking a downed Liberion.

"He's gone." Declared the medic simply.

"Damn it. Did you see what happened?" Asked Cpt. Walter to a Karlsland soldier.

"W-Well, it was just a usual patrol. Walk around the outskirt, warned the others if we see something strange, when that laser hit him." Replied the soldier.

"Wait, laser?"

"Yeah, it came from there."

The Karlslander points at somewhere far from the town and as soon as he did that, a laser hit him between the eyes. All soldiers soon dive to the ground and crawl to cover while the witches activate their shields and doing the same. Another laser hit a witch's shield before she reaches the cover.

"Sniper! Who use laser! Which means Neuroi!" Said Walter surprised.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Commented Alexander. "[COMMS] Tanya, this is Alexander. Can you locate the…sniper Neuroi?"

"[COMMS] Hang on. I think I…oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

"[COMMS] Something wrong?"

"[COMMS] The distance is 1,600 yards to the north! You tell me that's not something wrong!"

"[COMMS] 1,600 yards?! Not even the Springfield can reach that distance!"

"Actually, the 1,000 yards is Springfield's effective firing range. The max…"

"I don't need the trivia, captain."

Another laser hit the wall. This cause both of them to almost jump in shock. One Karlsland soldier takes off his helmet and puts it at the edge of his rifle. He slowly shows the helmet in the open before a laser hit it.

"Definitely sniper!" Exclaimed the soldier.

"Alexander, can you girls hit it from here?" Asked Walter.

"Well…" Alexander looks around and set her eyes on a group of soldiers. A laser tries to hit them but luckily the wall protected them. "…this might be difficult."

"Difficult how?"

"We're never trained to take out a sniper, remembering who our opponents are. There's also the fact that the distance is more than 1,200 yards. That's further than the effective firing range of my girls."

Walter can't help but let out a distressed sigh and Alexander can sympathize with him. They have no means of fighting back and the Neuroi only revealed themselves by long range laser. Alexander is tempted to fly to its location along with other witches. But doing that right inside an enemy territory scream suicide and madness.

But they can't just sit here and wait for the Neuroi to…

"Captain, it's gone!"

"What? What's gone?" Asked Walter confused.

"Look!" Replied a Liberion soldier.

He has his helmet on the tip of his rifle and shows it to the sniper. One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes and still no laser.

"You sure that not just because the sniper found out about the trick?" Suggested Alexander.

"Well, the witches up there proved it."

Walter and Alexander look up and see two witches in the sky. They don't have their shield up and thus act as a decoy. Any Neuroi will take that chance to shoot them but so far no laser.

Seeing the event, the rest of the troops start to come out from their cover, albeit with hesitance. After few minutes of walking around with no fire, they start to calm down and finally return to do what they were doing earlier.

* * *

 **August 31, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

After spending a night at the ruins, the 4th Allied Airborne Regiment are currently waiting from a detachment of XXX Corps to arrive.

Last night, the officers of both the paratroopers and the witches were discussing about the recent activity of the Neuroi. It was…to put it simply, strange and unpredictable. They didn't charge ahead to the group, they didn't performed reconnaissance on the Allied forces, nothing. The only thing they did was kill a couple of soldiers before hiding once again.

"At least with the arrival of the XXX, most of our job will be done." Stated Alexander.

"Hope so." Replied Walter.

Right after they said that, the XXX Corps can be seen at the horizon. The paratroopers and witches begin to cheer at the arrival of reinforcement. From what they can see, there are hundreds of infantries with dozens of armored vehicles and land witches. However, they know that they're still more than what they can see.

The XXX Corps is now crossing the bridge. Hope and wish begin to form on the heard of the soldiers. Hope and wish that the war against the Neuroi will soon to be over.

However, just few meters until the Corps reach the other side, the bridge explodes. Explosions happen across the bridge, taking out the lives of some of the soldiers. The biggest problem though is when the bridge begins to vibrates before finally collapsing, taking the crossing infantries, vehicles, and land witches on it.

Both the 4th Regiment and the Corps are now looking at the river as survivor of the bridge collapse tries to swim to the riverside. Some of them go to the side to try to help. Walter looks at the now-gone bridge and says one thing.

"F**k."

* * *

 **And done.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	10. Retreat from Fatherland

**Retreat from Fatherland**

 **Novermber 01, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)**

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

It's been half an hour since Michelle Wittmann was discharged from the medical bay. She's now currently inside a locker room to change her clothes from a hospital gown to clothes called Battle Dress Uniform or BDU for short.

When she changes her clothes, Wittmann notices that the locker was made for women. The proof is that the locker doesn't have what she usually describes as man's scent (how she knows that is something she doesn't want to reveal). There's also a woman sign outside. That means the number of women employed on this place must be big enough that they require a locker room.

When she takes a better look on BDU, she notices that there's a pants as part of the uniform. Either they don't know that witches usually don't wear one or they want her to wear one are the possibilities. At first, she decides not to wear it. But then, she has a feeling that it will leave a black mark on her if she did that. Perhaps because they want her to be on full complete uniform for some reason.

After wearing the BDU, including the pants, Wittmann exits the locker to find that Palmer is waiting outside while leans back on the wall and folding her arms.

"You're done, kid?" Asked Palmer simply.

"Yes, ma'am." Replied Wittmann with a sigh. She kinds of hate it when someone called her a kid. It makes her sounds inexperienced.

"Well then, follow me. Unless you prefer another IV." Said Palmer as she starts to walk.

"Where are we going, Commander?" Asked Wittmann as she follows Palmer.

"Mess hall."

As both of them walks to the mess hall, Wittmann realizes an upside of wearing the pants; while it's not cold, she can feel that the temperature of this place will make her legs cold if she doesn't wear one. She also notices that there's a lack of window in this place.

"Say, Commander. Why I don't see any window?" Asked Wittmann.

"Because we're walking through a windowless corridor." Replied Palmer with a matter-of-fact tone.

"That's now what I…"

"Here we are."

Wittmann stops talking and looks to the front. There's a room with a sign above it which say "Mess Hall". Two other men are about to go inside when they notice both Palmer and Wittmann. They perform a salute towards Palmer before returning to normal.

"Ah, it's good to see both of you." Said Palmer as he approaches both of them.

"Do you need something from us, Commander?" Asked one of them.

"Yes, get this girl some food and make sure she doesn't go to…those places."

Wittmann is confused when she heard that. What does Palmer mean by "those places" and why she can't go to there? Well, there's a chance that they're just a usual officer room that common soldier can't enter without permission.

"Of course, Commander."

"Good to hear."

Palmer walks away from the three of them as the two men approach Wittmann. One of them has Middle Eastern look with the color of the skin and the small beard that he has. The other is a normal Caucasian man with blue eyes and blonde hair. Both of them are wearing BDU and have army-style hair.

"What's your name?" Asked the first one simply.

"Wittmann. Michelle Wittmann. Captain." Answered Wittmann.

The first one looks at her with an amused look, as if he doesn't believe what she said. The second one on the other hand seems to try to remember about something. The first man then offers his hand to Wittmann.

"Hassan Abbas, ready to help."

"And I am Gabriel Locke."

Wittmann takes Abbas' hand and shakes it. When she heard both of the guy name, she realizes that their introduction lack something; rank.

"May I know what your ranks are?" Asked Wittmann.

"Spartan." Replied both Abbas and Locke.

Wittmann is confused with the answer. However, before she can ask more both of them are about to go inside. Not wanting to be left behind, she follows them into the mess hall.

Inside the hall, Wittmann can see that her suspicion is correct; the number of women in this place makes a locker room for them necessary. At least a fourth of them are female. Their ages variate from at least 18 years old to early 40's. She never sees this many women and men together in a military environment.

"Hey, don't ogle around. Let's get some food." Said Abbas as he approaches the cook.

"I am not ogling!" Retorted Wittmann as she and Locke follow him.

At the table, there are already three trays. Each of them pick one and head to the empty chairs. On their way there, Wittmann takes a look at the contain of the tray.

The tray is separated into six different sections; three on both the top and bottom parts. The middle one that's closer to her is the biggest one and the left and right section on the further side are larger than the closer one. On the biggest one, there's a Salisbury steak covered with gravy. On the lower left is mashed potato with butter and on the right upper are vegetables which consist of corn, broccoli, and carrot. What stood the most though is a small plastic jar on the middle upper section.

The three of them arrived on a table. There were already three people seating there; one is an African decent man while the other two are women. One has an appearance of Fusoan while the other is a Caucasian with brown hair and green eyes.

"Took you guys long enough." Said the African as the three of them take a seat.

"Well, Commander want us to accompany the survivor as well." Replied Abbas.

"Make sense." Said the Fusoan woman.

"Anyway, let me introduce you to my brother and sisters; not blood related of course." Said Abbas with a little laugh to Wittmann. "The brown-skinned due over there is Douglas Adams."

"Brown?" Replied Adams with confused and dumfounded look. If someone called him with the color of his skin, it will be black, not brown.

"The brunette is Christine Smith, our markswoman. And the quite one is the cold sniper of the team, Anne Koyuki."

"And together, we are Fireteam Vanguard." Added Locke.

"Fireteam Vanguard?" Said Wittmann curious.

"Yeah, we're going to tell you nothing about it since it's _way_ above your pay grade." Said Adams as he takes a bite of his steak.

"You too?! Why is everyone believe that my rank is something like a mere private? Look can be deceiving you know!" Said Wittmann annoyed.

"Sorry, Wittmann. If you want us to believe that you're a captain, then prove it." Said Abbas.

"Captain, right." Said Smith with sarcasm.

"Fine! When we done with the meal, I'll show you what I can do!" Wittmann is about to eat some of the potato when she remembers something. "By the way, why none of you used rank to introduce yourself?"

"Simple, kid. We're Spartans. Spartans don't have ranks because Spartan is our rank." Said Adams.

"And no, we're not going to explain to you who are Spartans. Not now at least." Said Locke.

Wittmann decides to comply with them and starts to eat her meal. Having eat similar dishes, she knows that the Salisbury steak and other foods served here are below restaurant standard, but they're a lot better than military rations, especially the dreaded Liberion K-ration.

When she looks at the Spartans, Wittmann sees that Koyuki has finished her meal except the one inside the jar. She opens it and the moment Wittmann sees what's inside, it took her entire training to not screaming and throws away her food.

Inside the jar is none other than four fat yellow worms. One of their end is colored by a darker shade of yellow, indicating their heads judging on how they move. That's right, move! Whatever this place's kitchen served their personnel living worms.

It seems that the worms realized that their lives are about to end and try to escape from the jar. Alas, the jar is simply too high for them to climb. Koyuki uses her plastic fork and stabs one of the worm. There's a yellow liquid coming from the stab wounds and the worm is desperately trying to escape. In the end, Koyuki puts the animal inside her mouth hand begin to chew.

As Koyuki chews her worm, she notices that Wittmann is staring at her with an incredulous and disgusted look. She wonders why before remembering what she currently ate.

"What?" Asked Koyuki simply.

"Sorry. It's just that…normal people don't eat worm. A living one even!" Stated Wittmann.

"Well, we make an exception with the Darak worms. It's quite good actually." Replied Adams as he starts to eat his portion.

"Worry not. It has been approved that Darak worms are fit for human consumption." Explained Abbas.

While she still kind of disgusted with it, Wittmann decides to open her jar. Just like the others, inside it is four Darak worms trying to escape. She gulps before grabbing her plastic fork.

" _Well, here goes nothing._ "

Wittmann stabs a worm and look at it for a while. It desperately trying to escape a blackhole that is her stomach. Seeing that others have no problem eating it, Wittmann puts the worm inside her mouth and begins to chew. She can't help but feel horrified by it.

It tastes good. She actually thinks that a worm taste good!

* * *

 **September 01, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 **Gallian-Karlsland Border**

What was supposed to be a hard operation turn into a complete disaster. Not only that the bridges are destroyed, but the 1st Allied Airborne Army were unable to link up with the XXX Corps. With that in mind, the Allied leadership ordered the Airborne Army to retreat through Kehl, where the last bridge for some reason still standing.

The way there is not as friendly as before the destruction of the bridges. Every day, there's going to be a now dubbed Neuroi sniper that will harass them by firing at one or two soldiers before retreating. One of the witches decided that enough is enough and fly towards the sniper to took it out.

Only to be attacked by hundreds of lasers and losing her live.

So, the only option they have is get their collective ***es to Kehl ASAP. It's not easy though as sometimes they must take a rest and making them fishes in a barrel. As much as the witches wanted to protect them, they're thousands of paratroopers and only eleven witches.

In the end, when they reach Kehl, they've lost 200 paratroopers and another witch.

The 4th Allied Airborne Regiment arrived at Kehl. They start to sweep around as they haven't encountered the 5th Allied Airborne Regiment which was stationed at the city. As their troops search for the 5th, both Alexander and Walter have a conversation.

"This is f**ked up." Stated Walter.

"Wiser words are never said." Replied Alexander.

"I mean, seriously, Neuroi sniper? Since when Neuroi perform surgical strike and not brute rampage?"

"Now."

"That's not what I mean. Though hearing that makes me realize something; the Neuroi are on the losing side this time. Could they possibly…"

"Sir, we found the 5th!"

Hearing a shout from a paratrooper, both Walter and Alexander speed up towards him. When they reach him, they see he has a terrified look on his face. When the paratrooper points at a direction, both of them see what he saw earlier and become pale.

"Damn it." Cursed Walter.

Lying at the street of Kehl are bodies of the 5th Allied Airborne Regiment, both paratroopers and witches. They can see that they're at least hundreds of corpses, maybe thousands. Meaning that either the 5th is completely wiped out or pull back towards Gallia using the bridge.

"Damn it. We're too late." Stated Alexander.

"It's not like we can do anything for them. The only we can do now is survive, make sure their sacrifices are not for nothing." Replied Walter.

"Walter, their bodies are not vaporized."

"I know. That means they're likely killed by the same type of Neuroi that attacked us." Walter then realizes the implication of his sentence. "But it doesn't make sense. No matter how many snipers you have, you can't fight an entire regiment without risking yourself."

"Unless…"

As a paratrooper walks around, a laser suddenly hit him in the chest. As he falls, other lasers hit the other paratroopers. Seeing that, the rest of the 1st Allied Airborne Regiment take cover.

"Anyone see where the lasers came from?" Asked Walter.

"It came from eleven o'clock direction, sir!" Replied a Karlslander paratrooper.

Walter peeks through his cover to look at the direction. He sees nothing at first, but then something is peeking from a building. He can't have a good look but apparently, it's slightly higher than average human and wears something black on its whole body.

Oh, and that something has red lines and it's pointing a rifle at him.

Walter immediately hides before the laser from the rifle hits him. It only scratches the edge of the building thanks to that. He leans from the cover and shoots his BAR at the direction of the hostile.

"Hostile, eleven o'clock. Possibly Neuroi infantry." Stated Walter.

"Now that's new. Never fight that kind before." Replied Alexander as she prepares her machine gun.

Barrage of lasers hit the walls and damage them. When it's over, the paratroopers and the witches return fire. It was at that moment that they can have a better look at the Neuroi.

They're bipedal obviously. Their height though is taller than average humans. They're also bulkier. Basically, a bigger version of human. They're wearing a futuristic black armor with red lines along them. The pattern is like the Neuroi's except for the glowing blue eyes.

The infantries are carrying either rifle-like weapons or SMG-like weapons. Some of them are moving through the street with their weapons aimed at the direction of the Allied forces while the rest stay behind to provide covering fire.

"Would you look at that. The Neuroi are using tactic." Commented Walter.

"I don't think praising them is a good idea." Replied Alexander.

The Neuroi infantries begin to fire towards the witches and the paratroopers. Some witches fly and return fire to the Neuroi from above. They see that their bullets hit something invisible surrounding the Neuroi.

"The hell is that?" Asked a witch.

"Looks like an energy shield." Replied another witch.

"Shield? Since when Neuroi have shield for their entire soldiers?!" Exclaimed yet another witch.

The Neuroi start for fire at the witches above them. The latter raise their shields and dodge. On the ground though, things become really bad fast. The standard weapons that the paratroopers have are unable to penetrate the shields that the Neuroi used. As the result, they're cut down left and right as the Neuroi keep their steady advance.

"Captain, there's nothing we can do about the Neuroi. We need to retreat!" Shouted a Liberion sergeant.

"No! We need to hold the town until the rest of the 1st Army gets here! They'll be massacred if retreat!" Replied Walter.

"We will be the one who got…"

Before the sergeant can finish his reply, a laser hits his head. Walter curses a little as he keeps firing at the Neuroi with no effect.

"Alexander, what did your witches doing all this time? Last time I check, they're the expert."

"Have you ever encounter a Neuroi with a shield?" Retorted Alexander.

"Not so much, no."

The paratroopers and the witches keep firing to prevent the Neuroi from controlling the whole town. But soon it became clear that it's a hopeless fight. Not even one Neuroi is destroyed and there're already dozens of dead bodies. Even the witches begin to take casualties as the Neuroi employ a simple but effective tactic; one of them will attack and make a witch raises her shield while the other move around and attack her vulnerable back. The only ways for them to avoid the Neuroi is to fly fast or high, which makes attacking quite difficult.

"Damn it, this job should be handled to the land witches instead." Said Alexander with a sigh.

Suddenly, explosion occurred at the location of the advancing Neuroi. When it settled, three of them lie on the ground while the rest take cover inside the buildings. Walter and Alexander look at the direction of where the attack came from and see a large group of paratroopers and some witches above them. From the size, it appears that one of the regiment have return.

"Your guys part of the 1st Regiment?" Asked a Karlslander lieutenant with a loud voice.

"Yeah. And you are…?" Asked Walter back.

"Lt. Heinrich Krebs of the 4th Allied Airborne Regiment. I am going to be blunt, we have to retreat!"

"We need to hold this town until the other…"

"There's no other! A handful of my men are survivors of the other regiments, with the 3rd completely annihilated."

"They too?!"

"What do you…damn it, the 5th! Like I said, we need to fall back!"

No other word need to be said as now, the entire survivors of Operation Market Garden are on full retreat. While most of them retreat, some of them stay for a while to hold back the Neuroi before retreating as well. The Neuroi, seeing this, decide to push towards the Allied forces more aggressively. When they were moving from cover to cover, now they're marching at steady speed and relying only on their shields to defend themselves.

Suddenly, more and more infantries Neuroi appear. It looks like that the Neuroi have a reserve ready. Seeing how many of them, and the fact that they only managed to take out some of them, with the amount can be count using both hands' fingers, the retreat becomes a rout.

"What are you doing?! Keep order! If you retreat like that, you will…"

Before the witch can finish her warn, she's shoot down by a Neuroi's sniper. Seeing that only makes the remaining Allied forces become panic and start leaving their equipment so that they can run faster, making it a true rout.

Inside the mind of every soldiers is nothing but going back to Allied territory. They keep running as other soldiers die left and right. Keep running even if they're out of breath. The Neuroi that they fight are on a whole different level. They know that unless the Allied leadership do something, then they will be pushed off Europe mainland once again.

* * *

The Neuroi keep chasing the retreating human forces until most of them are on the bridge. Once that happen, the Neuroi stop their advance as one of them come forward. Compared to standard Neuroi infantry, this Neuroi has shoulder pads, knee caps, and thicker armor. It looks at the fleeing human forces before contacting its superior.

"[COMMS] This is Field Commander Star-of-Collapsed-Core. The human forces are retreating… Yes, Warrior-Servant. We're ready for the next phase."

* * *

 **And this chapter is done.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please.**


	11. Warriors of Old

**Warriors of Old**

 **November 03, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)**

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

Wittmann was currently in a firing range. The soldiers were using a wide variety of weapons, but the most common seems to be a firearm with the length of a rifle and the rate-of-fire of SMG. The firearm was somewhat similar to Stg44, the first assault rifle.

Assault rifle was a good choice of weapon when you need to suppress an enemy while, well, assaulting their position. It has the range of a rifle (well, at least longer than SMG) and the rate-of-fire of an SMG. Unfortunately, they were only manufactured in Neue Karlsland and the distance makes shipping the Stg44s…challenging to say the least.

Not so much for the bullets though.

As she thoughts about where these people got all these kind of weapons, she's approached by Abbas.

"What's wrong, little girl? Being surprised by the amount of dakka that we have?" Teased Abbas a little.

"W.. Of course not! And what's a dakka?" Asked Wittmann back.

"Just an old reference. Besides that, are you going to just stand here or you'll join us with the training?"

"Of course I am. I told you that I'll show you I deserve my rank!" Replied Wittmann with excitement.

"Glad to hear that. But some basics aren't gonna hurt. Go towards Locke over there to start your training." Said Abbas as he points at Locke, who waves back.

Wittmann approached Locke as the turns around and does some final inspections on the weapons near him.

"Hello there, Wittmann. Are you ready for your training?" Asked Locke with a bit of smile.

"Ready when you are." Replied Wittmann confidentially.

"Good to hear."

Wittmann walked forward to one of the shooting gallery. On a stand in front of her are two weapons; a large handgun and the assault rifle she saw earlier.

"First off, the handgun. M6H Magnum. It fired 12.7x40mm ammunition, capable of holding eight at a time. Effective range of 250 meters and has one of the biggest recoil among all handgun."

Wittmann grabbed the M6H and inspected it. The handgun really was big and the design was quite unique. Not only the trigger, but also the handle was protected. She also noticed that for its size, the gun was actually lighter than it should be.

"Ready?" Asked Locke.

Wittmann aims the M6H towards the target area before responding, "Do it."

A paper target appeared from the ceiling. Wittmann fired a shot before jerking back and released her grips in pain.

"Well that's not surprising. The Magnums are well-known as either the biggest handgun or the smallest rifle. Next time, try to be prepared for rifle recoil rather than handgun." Advised Locke.

Wittmann nods a little and does what Locke suggested. She fired all eight rounds and see that out of them, three hit near the chest bullseye and two hit at the chest bullseye. It's quite decent actually, remembering that Wittmann never fired this kind of gun.

"Alright, that's enough. Now it's time for the assault rifle." Said Locke.

Wittmann puts down the M6H and picks the assault rifle. When she looks at the rifle, she sees some sort of glass with a number "32" created from blue light. Checking around for a bit, she realizes that the magazine is behind the trigger.

"Why is the magazine in an unusual place?" Asked Wittmann.

"It's called bullpup. This configuration permits a shorter overall weapon for a given barrel length. This maintains the advantages of a longer barrel in muzzle velocity and accuracy, while improving maneuverability and reducing weight." Explained Locke.

That's…quite an achievement actually. That means any rifle can be made shorter while still maintain their normal effective range if bullpup configuration is used.

On second thought, after imagining a rifleman uncomfortably reloading a bullpup Lee-Enfield, it might not be a good idea for an existing rifle.

"This is MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System, or MA5D ICWS for short. It fired 7.62x51mm FMJ-AP ammunition, capable of holding 32 rounds at a time. I am not exactly sure about the effective range, but it's short-mid range."

After hearing the explanation, Wittmann aims down the MA5D. Shortly thereafter, another paper target appears and Wittmann begins to shoot it. During that, she realizes that she can only fire two or three rounds per trigger pull. After spending the entire magazine, she looks near the trigger and finds a firing selector.

"As you can see, MA5D has a firing selector installed on it; single shot, burst fire, and full auto. It is advised that the last setting should only be used in emergency as the chances of missing the target increased."

Wittmann puts down the MA5D and looks at Locke.

"So, is there anything else that I can do?" Asked Wittmann.

"Hmm, not at the moment. But do you want to look at the video of SPARTAN's training? That might be a good show." Suggested Locke.

"Well, I guess I'll do it. Who's going to do the training?"

"You'll see."

* * *

 **September 03, 1945 (Local Calendar)**

 **Karlsland-Orussian Border**

It is not hard to say that everything starts to go to hell for the Allies after Operation Market Garden. It looks like that the decision to strike deep into the Neuroi territory is not a wise one considering that now the Neuroi are bringing in their new toys.

One of their new toys is a humanoid Neuroi, standing slightly taller than average men. Unlike other Neurois that have some parts of their body as a weapon, this one has some sort of rifle to fire its usual laser.

Unfortunately, this type of Neuroi has something that none of its previous kin have; a shield not dissimilar to a witch's shield. But instead of appearing like a circle, it instead surrounding the wearer's body.

"AAH! Why it doesn't work?!" Shouted an Orussian soldier who fired his PPSh-41.

"What are you doing?! Get down! You're going to get…" Before the Karlslander soldier can finish his warning, a laser takes off the Orussian's head.

"Somebody bring a tank! It sure as hell will work!"

"Where are the witches? Where are the goddamn WITCHES?!"

A Panther shoots at one of the humanoid Neuroi. It hits and send it away. Suddenly, another humanoid Neuroi appears. It's armed with a strange cannon and it uses both of its hand to wield it. The cannon charges a laser beam before firing it at the Panther, destroying it.

Slowly but steady, the new humanoid Neurois push back the combined Karlsland-Orussian forces. Despite constant artillery barrages, the Neuroi continue to advance. Many of the infantry weapons, that previously can at least damage the Neuroi, are rendered useless by these new versions. The trusted Flak 88s are simply too big for human-sized targets. Getting destroyed doesn't help at all.

"Where the hell are the witches?! I already sent a request half an hour ago!"

"Sir, they are…too busy with other assignment."

"What other assignment?"

* * *

 **502** **nd** **JFW Base**

"And stay back!" Shouted Kanno Naoe as she punched a humanoid Neuroi.

The situation in the base can be described by one simple word; disaster. It was all started when a high-speed Neuroi suddenly fly over the base. Before the witches can react, it dropped several pods. When the military send teams to investigate the pods, they open up and the humanoid Neurois emerged, ready to kill their enemy.

The Neuroi flies several feet away before landing. However, it immediately stand up and runs to the alley.

"Hey, get back here!" Naoe was about to give a chase when someone grabbed her from behind.

"Don't chase them, Kanno! It might be a trap!" Exclaimed Nikka Edvardine Katajainen.

"Let me go, Nippa. Even if they try to trap me, I'll just punch my way out!"

"That won't be good."

Naoe and Nikka looked above them to see one of the humanoid Neuroi fell to the ground. Above them, Waltrud Krupinski was flying with her striker armed with a hunting double-barreled shotgun. It was one of few weapons that can heavily damage the Neuroi's shield.

Provided being fired quite close though.

"This new type of Neuroi do not fight like other Neurois that we have fought before. Until we…"

"Look out!"

Krupinski turned around thanks to Nikka's warning and raised her shield. She saw the Neuroi that shoot her before it got away.

"I know that, Krupinski. But what else that we can do?! These things are having their own merry way while we…"

"Look out!"

Naoe raised her shield. Unfortunately, it was a solid thing that hit her shield. When the three of them look at it, they realized that it was a grenade.

Naoe, Nikka, and Krupinski immediately went away from the grenade ASAP. Soon after that, the grenade shot barrages of destructive laser beams to all direction; destructive enough to penetrated through the walls of nearby buildings.

* * *

 **UNSC** _ **Infinity**_

Wittmann and Fireteam Vanguard, alongside other UNSC personnel, were looking at the training done by four SPARTANs. Though calling it a match would be more appropriate, considering there were two sides fighting each other using special tranquilizer rounds. The SPARTANs on the screen were, according to Abbas, S-058, S-104, S-087, and S-117. When asked about it, he explained that those SPARTANs were the original SPARTANs, the predecessor of Fireteam Vanguard, who were SPARTAN-IVs. The originals were SPARTAN-IIs.

When asked about SPARTAN-IIIs, Locke said that she won't want to know. And leave it at that.

From what she could saw, the SPARTANs were fighting against two or three dozen marines. Pretty unbalanced in her thought. Yet it was the SPARTANs that dominated the field, so much that the marines looked more like trying to survive rather than fighting back.

S-058 was a very good sniper. Heck, in fact that might be an insult. She shot two marines with the time distance so short that it looked as if she shot both of them at the same time.

S-087 was very, _very_ fast and same degree of reflex to boot. The marines who tried to shot her missed thanks to the fact that she was no longer there. She was also capable of getting close to the marines, shot her shotgun, and ran away. Rinse and repeat. Basically, hit-and-run tactics.

S-104 was an expert in CQC. He was using something like a small baton. The way he used it indicated that was some sort of non-lethal version of knife. He managed to ambush a squad of marines and beat all of them. None of them even managed to land a hit.

S-117 was the one that stood the most. It was thanks to his strategy and tactics and the other SPARTANs and him managed to lured the marines into the kill-zone. His way of fighting, well to be honest, he looked as if he improvised along the way. Shoot some marines, then throw a grenade or two.

"So, what do you think?" Asked Locke.

"Very impressive. Their abilities are above normal people. Perhaps even above witches. Just asking, but where are they?" Asked Wittmann back.

"They're taking a rest if the higher-ups are to be believed. Make sense considering that they've been spending the majority of their lives fighting." Said Abbas.

"27 years. No question in that." Added Adams.

Wittmann looked back to the screen and thought about it. It was a policy that soldiers that've spent a long time on the battlefield must be send home otherwise they won't be able to function as normal people anymore. The First Neuroi War taught them that lesson hard.

Wait a minute…

"Did you just say…"

Before Wittmann could asked Adams, there was a beeping sound coming from Abbas. From the looks of it, he was communicating with someone through the radio. After it was done, he stood up and signaled the other SPARTANs to do so.

"Alright Vanguard, Captain Lasky just give us a new order. We need to be ready in 5 minutes." Stated Abbas.

Hearing that, the rest of the Vanguards stood up and walked away with their CO. Wittmann decided to withhold her question; she knew how valuable every second is for military operation.

As she walked back to her quarter, Wittmann couldn't help but realized something.

" _Where am I?_ "

* * *

 **Classified Location**

Adolfine Galland slammed the phone after the call ended. She grabbed a bar of candy and ate it, a little habit she made due to the increasing stress that she need to dealt with.

After the major failure that is Operation Market Garden, it seemed that the Neuroi decided to drastically increased their war efforts due to attempted invasion of their main bases. It took the shape of the humanoid Neurois that attacked all fronts and all Joint Fighter Wings' bases.

Strangely though, those that attacked the fronts retreated after pushing back the Allied Forces for several miles while those who attacked the Witches' bases only inflicted casualties on the support staffs and destroyed many parts of the bases before disappearing.

It as if they were trying to send a message that for the _entire war_ , the Neuroi didn't take any of it seriously and they could defeat the Allied Forces from day one.

But if that is true, then why didn't the Neuroi did that? Why they bid their time and actually let themselves get beaten not one, but two times that resulted in the destruction of two Hives?

Really, this was frustrating and people demanded answer.

When she heard her phone rang again, Adolfine let out a sigh and pick it up.

"Air Marshal Galland here."

"Look…at…map…"

"What?" Adolfine immediately put a distance between the phone and her.

She could hear three voices from the phone. There were Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Koiso Kuniaki. Those voices sound like there were being broadcasted from a radio. She deduced that whoever the caller was, he or she didn't want Adolfine to recognized the caller's voice.

"Motive…look…at…map…"

Soon after that, the call was being cut. Adolfine put down the phone and immediately look at the world map on her office. She didn't understand; was it "the motive is looking at the map", the "clue of the motive is looking at the map", or something else?

The world map in her office have several additions. One of them were arrows that indicated troops movement from the European countries' colonial regions and America continent to the Western Europe, Eastern Europe, or North Africa.

She looked at it for several moments before returning to her desk. Adolfine didn't understand what the caller means. It might be a simple prank call, but she doubted it.

As she thought about it, she didn't notice the small black and red bug that flew away from her office.

* * *

 **Answers to some reviews:**

 **Zeus501:** Thanks for telling me my mistakes. And yes, I know _Infinity_ carried 10 frigates.

 **downyawood:** No, they're not. As for sniper, it's just a preference.

 **A 'Reincarnated' writer:** As soon as I take care of my writer's block.

 **DEFCON-1:** Don't worry, it's nor Forerunners. But it is _related_ to the Forerunners.

* * *

 **And finally done. Sorry for the late update, I have writer's block.**

 **If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.**

 **Review please!**


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